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There has been extensive coverage of two big victories at the NLRB in our fight against Rogers Behavioral Health in Wisconsin. The board certified our election victory at the West Allis treatment center and rejected Rogers ’ objections to the election. Spectrum News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on this. Many news outlets including Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Examiner, Spectrum News, CBS58, Biz Times, Beckers Behavioral Health, Wisconsin Public Radio, and Spectrum News also reported on the NLRB filing a complaint against Rogers for illegally firing six pro-union workers at the facility.
A federal judge granted final approval of a settlement valued at about $42.7 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging that Providence mishandled forfeited funds in its employee 401(k) plan. Former Providence employee Victoria Halter filed the lawsuit on Oct. 31, 2024, in federal court in Oregon. The complaint centered on forfeitures: unvested company contributions that exiting employees give up when they leave before fully vesting, which typically takes four to six years under the plan. Becker’s Hospital Review reported that the plan’s terms required forfeited funds to go first toward plan expenses Providence did not pay, the lawsuit claimed. Instead, the health system allegedly used them to offset its employer contributions and to deduct administrative expenses from participants’ accounts. The settlement class includes plan participants and beneficiaries from Jan. 1, 2018, through June 4, 2026. Providence is also facing another proposed class-action lawsuit over its 401(k) plans.
Rogers Behavioral Health, where more than 100 workers have organized unions with NUHW in the past two years, has raised more than $83.3 million in municipal bonds to fuel a multisite expansion plan and refinance old debt. According to Behavioral Health Business, about $35 million will go to its capital projects, while $46 million will refund existing bonds, according to public bond issuance documents. Another $2.24 million in cash from net premiums on the bonds will be divided between increasing available cash for the new capital projects, paying old debt and paying issuance expenses and advisory fees related to the bonds.
According to the Orange County Register, the healthcare industry traditionally has more of its workforce on medical insurance than many other fields. Nationwide, 7 percent of all healthcare workers were uninsured in 2024, compared with 11 percent of all adults under 65, according to a KFF analysis of the most recent American Community Survey data. But even healthcare workers are feeling the pinch as health insurance costs rise each year, with employers expecting that costs will jump an additional 8.2 percent for 2027. The Republican-led Congress also opted last year not to renew Affordable Care Act marketplace credits enacted during the covid pandemic. The number of people without insurance in the U.S. is expected to increase by roughly 15 million over 10 years because of the expiration of the expanded ACA subsidies and $1.1 trillion in estimated cuts resulting from President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
