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The Muskegon Family Care facility, 2201 S. Getty at Hackley Avenue in Muskegon Heights.

(Ken Stevens | MLive.com )

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI – Four former employees of Muskegon Family Care have reached a settlement with the health center after they were fired without reason earlier this year, a public service union announced on Thursday, Oct. 23.

Ed McNeil, special assistant to the president of the Michigan chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also known as Michigan AFSCME Council 25, said the decision means the workers will receive an undisclosed amount of money and neutral references for future employment.

The announcement comes the same day MLive Muskegon Chronicle reported that the facility's administration and board of directors failed to properly track their use of federal funds and follow health center bylaws and other policies during fiscal years 2010-2014.

A small group of Michigan AFSCME Council 25 members and supporters gathered at the facility, located at 2201 S. Getty St. in Muskegon Heights, on Thursday afternoon for about a half hour to announce the news, McNeil said.

The union filed a National Labor Relations Board charge against the federally qualified health center in March after some employees said they were fired in retaliation. The workers had been exploring union membership in response to unfavorable working conditions, they said.

The union, former Muskegon Family Care employees and their supporters, including certified physician assistant Amber Shull and diabetic health coordinator Deb Gardner, participated in informational pickets in front of the facility later that month.

McNeil said Shull and Gardner are among the four employees who will receive settlement monies.

The union had also filed a "10j" injunction that would have required a court hearing. The measure refers to Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, which authorizes the national board "to seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal district courts to stop unfair labor practices while the case is being litigated before administrative law judges and the Board."

"The employer backed off the issue and that's how we reached the settlement," McNeil said.

As part of the settlement, the workers have "agreed to put the matter to rest and not pursue further legal action" according to a statement released by Michigan AFSCME Council 25. McNeil said Muskegon Family Care has also agreed to respect union organizing laws by not harassing or intimidating workers.

This, he said, means healthcare workers can improve their working conditions, which will help them offer patients better care.

Online case records maintained by the National Labor Relations Board indicate that Michigan AFSCME Council 25 filed its first charge against Muskegon Family Care on March 10 and made four allegations against the health clinic. The nature of those complaints included discipline; coercive statements, e.g. threats; coercive actions, e.g. surveillance and discharge, e.g. layoff, refusal to hire.

Earlier this year, workers said Muskegon Family Care CEO Sheila Bridges sent staff members threatening emails and tried to intimidate them.

The union added three additional complaints against the employer in the following months and Muskegon Family Care responded to the first case in July.

The group filed a second charge that month, lamenting three of the same complaints they outlined in March, according to online records. McNeil said the complaint was related to a Muskegon Family Care administration effort to have employees to sign and agree to at-will employment terms they had already agreed to when they were hired.

The National Labors Relations Board issued a dismissal letter in response to the second case, citing insufficient evidence in September. McNeil claims officials sent the letter after the union withdrew the charge since it had begun to settle the first case.

McNeil claimed the dismissal letter prompted Bridges to erroneously inform employees that Muskegon Family Care won the cased filed in March.

McNeil said the union filed a third charge against Muskegon Family Care on Tuesday, Oct. 21 because the health center's administration allegedly suspended an employee without reason and failed to follow up on the matter.

McNeil said AFSCME Council 25 continues to receive calls from Muskegon Family Care workers who are interested in union membership. Currently, the group has members at Brookhaven Medical Care Facility, the Muskegon County-funded and Department of Human Service -operated nursing home facility located at 1890 E. Apple Ave.

Muskegon Family Care's lawyer, David Rhem, could not immediately provide a comment after being reached on Thursday.