FORT KENT, Maine — State officials have found that Northern Maine Medical Center violated multiple labor laws in 2023, including misclassifying workers as contractors, failing to pay timely wages and overtime, and making unfair contracts.
The Fort Kent hospital committed a total of 77 violations of state regulations, according to an October 2024 citation by the Maine Department of Labor.
The hospital, which has been the subject of multiple demonstrations and a labor complaint by its nurses after they unionized early last year, reached a settlement earlier this month in which it did not admit to any wrongdoing, but agreed to pay a total of $15,707 to three nurses and a fine of $8,750 to the state.
The state will also retrain hospital management on labor laws within 180 days, and the hospital will end a flexible staffing program that was in place at the time of the violations.
The hospital, in a statement to the Bangor Daily News, confirmed that the citation letter pertained to pay practices implemented while utilizing the so-called RN Flexible Solutions Program for four registered nurses to assist with staffing shortages.
“While admitting no wrongdoing, NMMC entered into this agreement with the State to resolve the issue and preserve hospital financial resources rather than continue costly litigation,” the hospital said.
The state will monitor the hospital for compliance for the next two years, and if it follows the terms of the agreement, another $84,050 in penalties would be waived.
“NMMC will continue to comply with all state and federal labor laws,” the hospital’s statement concluded.
The complaint against the hospital was initiated by the Maine State Nurses Association, which released a statement celebrating the settlement but maintaining pressure on the hospital.
“Violations like these are why NMMC nurses unionized,” said Brad Martinez, a registered nurse in the emergency department. “NMMC played by its own set of rules, until nurses unionized and exercised our power to hold them accountable.”
According to the citation letter, 12 of the hospital’s violations pertained to overtime, 12 related to timely and full payment of wages and 12 were for requiring employees to sign special contracts stating that they would be working as independent contractors, exempting them from the overtime pay requirement. The other 41 violations fell under the “employee misclassification” category, for misclassifying employees as independent contractors.
The union said the misclassification led to the termination of two nurses.
“We call on NMMC to immediately make whole the nurses impacted by their misclassification,” said Terry Caron, a registered nurse in the adult behavioral health unit. “This harm could have been avoided entirely, and now it is well past time to correct their mistakes.”
One nurse fired as a result of this misclassification was Tiffani Daigle. The union held a protest outside the hospital last February demanding that Daigle be reinstated. Daigle was also a vocal advocate of the union.
Daigle has since been hired back by the hospital. In November, it announced via social media that Daigle along with four others were added to its staff.
Fort Kent nurses are still negotiating their first contract, according to the Maine State Nurses Association. They officially unionized and joined the association and the National Nurses Organizing Committee in Jan. 2024, with 62 percent of roughly 90 nurses at the hospital voting in favor.
Unionized nurses in October also announced during a picket outside the facility that they would be filing a federal unfair labor practice charge against the hospital. This charge alleges that management has not been bargaining in good faith. However, the union has since withdrawn these federal charges as management has agreed to increase the number of bargaining sessions.
