Case arose from nurses' labor claims alleging rest and meal break violations

Desert Regional Medical Center, Inc. (DRMC) waived its contractual right, if any, to arbitrate the individual claims of three registered nurses due to its delay in filing a petition to compel arbitration, the California Court of Appeal recently said.

DRMC, which owned and operated an acute care hospital, hired the three nurses under a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between DRMC and the California Nurses Association.

An article of the CBA stated that individual nurses and DRMC could voluntarily agree to arbitrate disputes not otherwise arbitrable under the CBA under the fair treatment process (FTP), which provided dispute resolution procedures for employment-related disputes.

The nurses also signed an employment arbitration agreement, where they agreed to submit non-CBA covered disputes to final and binding arbitration before the American Arbitration Association.

The case of Desert Regional Medical Center, Inc. v. Miller arose when the three nurses filed labor claims alleging rest and meal break violations by DRMC. DRMC filed petitions to compel arbitration of the labor claims and requested a stay. The trial court denied DRMC’s petitions and request.

DRMC appealed. It made the following arguments:

• The trial court should have stayed the individual claims until after the completion of the arbitration of a separate proceeding that the union initiated on behalf of all nurses that DRMC employed...

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