Charleston Gazette (WV) - Sunday, September 25, 2011

Author: Paul J. Nyden Staff writer

Many West Virginia mental hospital workers share growing concerns about overcrowding, understaffing and mandatory overtime, particularly at the two state psychiatric care facilities - William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital in Weston and Mildred-Mitchell Bateman Hospital in Huntington.

John Thompson, a field organizer for the West Virginia Public Workers Union UE Local 170, said on Friday, "Forced overtime, low wages and understaffing all contribute to a downward spiral.

"Management has also been violating employee rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Labor Standards Act," he alleged.

Brian Yost, a lawyer with the Charleston firm of Holroyd & Yost who represents UE Local 170, sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Michael J. Lewis on Tuesday.

"The employees are not being compensated for all hours worked in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act," Yost wrote.

"These employees are required to report to work and clock in 15 minutes prior to their scheduled shift," Yost added. "In addition, these employees are docked for the time spent traveling from the time clock to their work area."

Citing a July 2009 court order issued by Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, Yost questioned failures by Sharpe and Bateman hospitals to pay their workers more to "recruit staff and retain existing staff."

Yost's letter ended, "If an amicable resolution cannot be reached, or if [the] DHHR is not interested in discussing these matters, we are prepared to exercise all legal rights available to these employees."

Thompson said that UE Local 170 is "planning to file a lawsuit if [the] DHHR does not answer our concerns, including mandatory overtime. And this is not just about Sharpe and Bateman hospitals. It is a statewide crisis."

Jamie Beaton, a health service assistant at Sharpe, said, "In all of the state hospitals, employee turnover rates are through the roof. They just can't retain people."

Sharpe employs 450 people and had 600 employee turnovers last year, Beaton said.

John D. Law, a spokesman for the DHHR's Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs, said overcrowding problems are primarily caused by "our forensic population, committed there by judges.

"They need treatment. We are not arguing that. But some judges commit them to stay for what their terms would have been if they had been convicted.

"We have some of those people for 30 years. The forensic beds are just eating away at the civil, mental-hygiene beds," Law said Saturday.

"We do everything we can not to use mandatory overtime. We ask workers to volunteer. But these people have to be taken care of."

Thompson and Beaton said the July 2009 court order includes other provisions that have not been followed, including reducing involuntary commitments, often for people with mental problems convicted of crimes, and cutting the average length of stay for all patients.

The hospitals also are failing to follow another provision in Bloom's order, Thompson said, that requires the DHHR to "use only full-time employees working regular shifts or voluntary overtime, except in exceptional and infrequent contexts."

Donna Morgan, UE Local 170 president, said that when some of her members visited state legislators in Charleston last week, they pointed out that stressful "working conditions do not only affect state hospital employees, but the patients and residents who they provide care for on daily basis."

Morgan said she hopes state legislators will "provide much-needed legislative oversight to help remedy these ongoing problems."

Beaton, chief steward for Local 170 at Sharpe, said, "At state hospitals, your pay starts out at $19,400 a year if you are someone like a health service assistant.

"A licensed practical nurse starts out at $21,000 or $22,000 a year. But every time they give you a pay raise, it is only 2 or 3 percent. Then they raise the cost of your health insurance more than they raised your salary."

Gordon Simmons, another Local 170 field organizer, said, "[The] DHHR is trying to keep salary increases as small as possible, especially for health service workers, who are already the lowest paid."

Beaton said people convicted of criminal acts "are taking up all our vacant beds today. At Sharpe, we are over-bedded almost daily."

Sharpe Hospital recently received funds to add another 50 beds to accommodate patients who committed crimes, but are found not guilty because of mental illnesses and committed to mental hospitals.

"We can't staff our hospital right now for 150 patients, which is why they impose mandatory overtime," Beaton said. "With another 50 beds, this will continue to be a problem down the road."

Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjnyden@wvgaette.com or 304-348-5164.