A New Mexico District Court judge has ruled that PRN (pro re nata) employees, which are freelance or temporary workers, cannot be considered “regular employees” of The University of New Mexico Hospital under the Public Employee Bargaining Act (PEBA). This ruling is important, as it makes clear that PRN employees are not “public employees” under the law and therefore cannot be included in a bargaining unit represented by a public employees’ union.
The issue began when the United Health Professionals NM division of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) filed a petition seeking to represent certain clinical employees, including PRN employees at UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center – A Campus of UNM Hospital (SRMC). (See footnote about the timeline.)
UNM Hospital held the position that since New Mexico law defines “public employees” as “regular non-probationary employees of a public employer,” and limits eligibility to form or join public employees’ unions to “public employees,” PRN employees were not eligible under the law to be included in the bargaining unit. AFT disagreed with this position and campaigned to include PRN employees in the proposed union. This dispute was filed with the 2nd Judicial District Court for resolution.
In September, after months of offering to bargain, UNM Hospital and AFT agreed to come to the bargaining table by conditionally agreeing to include PRNs in the bargaining agreement. Because the dispute over whether PRNs were eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit was still pending at the District Court, the parties agreed to include a clause requiring the parties to revisit inclusion of PRNs once a court ruling had been received on that issue. The tentative agreement that was reached through this bargaining process gave a 3% pay increase to both regular and PRN employees that went into effect on October 13, 2024.
On November 1, 2024, 2nd Judicial District Court Judge Nancy Franchini resolved the dispute over whether PRNs could be included in a public employee bargaining unit in an opinion stating, “The Court concludes that a PRN employee is not ‘regular’ and is thus not a ‘public employee.’” Accordingly, because they are not “public employees,” PRNs should not remain included in a public employee bargaining unit under the law.
In light of this ruling, UNM Hospital is seeking clarification from the New Mexico Public Employee Labor Relations Board (PELRB) to better understand how to proceed with AFT given that PRN employees are included in the recently negotiated collective bargaining agreement.
Ultimately, we want to do what’s best for our employees and what’s best for the hospital. This ruling gives all of us the much-needed guidance to ensure we are setting up our employees and hospital operations for success.
We know this has been a long and complex process that has also been frustrating for many. We appreciate our teams’ patience and understanding as we continue to work on this matter. Our patients and employees are always our priority.
UNM Hospital will continue to update hospital staff and members of the public on this matter as details materialize into actionable next steps.
Note about SRMC:
When AFT first filed a petition to unionize, SRMC was a nonprofit hospital within the UNM Health System with the business name UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, Inc. Effective January 1, 2024, the Regents of the University of New Mexico, for its Public Operations Known As the University of New Mexico Hospital (“UNM Hospital”), acquired UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center, Inc.
UNM Hospital now operates SRMC as “UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center - A Campus of UNM Hospital.”
With its acquisition, UNM Hospital assumed the former nonprofit hospital’s role in responding to AFT’s organizational drive.