Judge Refuses to Bar Nurses From Striking : Labor: But he affirms order requiring notice of walkout. Hospital policy forcing staff to have doctor’s excuse for sick days is nullified.

A Superior Court judge Monday rejected Ventura County’s bid to block county nurses from striking, but kept in place a temporary order requiring at least 72 hours notice of a walkout.

Judge Ken W. Riley also freed nurses at Ventura County Medical Center from a morale-breaking new policy that forced them to bring in a private doctor’s note after taking sick leave.

“I feel the judge has upheld the professional integrity of nurses,” said Judith Overmyer, co-chairwoman of the local chapter of the California Nurses Assn. “It was beyond me that you couldn’t trust a nursing staff with a decision on whether they were sick.”

Monday’s ruling represented the first victory in a string of disappointments for the county’s nurses--who have faced layoffs, pay cuts and failed contract negotiations in the past year.

But the decision raised concerns for county officials, nervous that the health care workers will follow through on their threat to walk out. Union leaders voted three weeks ago to authorize a strike, but say they will use the labor action only as a last resort.

“Certainly the county has been examining the steps necessary to protect public health,” said Ed McLean, assistant personnel director for the county.

The possibility of a strike escalated last week after the county Board of Supervisors imposed a pay and benefits package on 350 health care workers at the county hospital.

“Now perhaps, there’s a greater motivation for some type of work action,” said Assistant County Counsel Leroy Smith, arguing in court for an injunction against a strike.

Today, the nurses’ union will ask the court to block the county’s plans to impose the contract and any possible layoffs. Short of that, union leaders say Monday’s ruling allows them to keep the option of a strike--and the leverage to bring the county back into contract negotiations.

*

“There are, at this time, no plans to strike or engage in any work stoppage,” Donald Nielsen, attorney for the nurses’ union, told the judge. “They want the county to come back to the bargaining table, so we can settle this matter once and for all.”

Faced with the decision of imposing a strike ban or dismissing a temporary order setting the 72-hour notice requirement, Riley asked the attorney for the nurses’ union to consider a compromise.

The union agreed to support an extension of the temporary order until at least May 9, rather than risk an outright ban.

“If he took away our ability to even consider a strike, what tools do we have to even get the county back to the negotiating table?” Overmyer asked.

*

The judge also issued a writ of mandate that effectively blocks a new sick-leave policy that nurses found expensive and insulting. Under the policy, which the hospital began enforcing in February, nurses had to show a note from a private physician after returning after even one day’s absence.

The visit to a private physician cost nurses time and money, the union argued. The judge agreed with the union’s position that such a policy should be discussed in negotiations, not imposed unilaterally by the hospital.