Nurses from Łódź demand to be re-employed

The District Court for Łódź-Śródmieście has resumed the case of the three nurses who in 2008 were dismissed from work for organising an illegal strike in two Łódź hospitals. The ground for dismissal was their allegedly culpable conduct.  The claimants demand to be re-employed and paid the outstanding remuneration.

The proceedings were suspended pending the related criminal case. In April 2011 the Circuit Court in Łódź upheld the judgement of the first-instance court and cleared the nurses of the charge of organising an illegal strike.

All the parties appeared at the first hearing of the resumed proceedings, which attracted substantial media attention and were observed by a representative of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. In his first submission the counsel for the claimants informed the court that one of the nurses had given up her claim for re-employment and demanded only an appropriate compensation. Then, the counsel submitted a pleading in which he demanded that the opposing party provided the court with detailed calculations of the remuneration which the claimants would have received if they had not been dismissed from work. The counsel for the respondent (the hospital) asked for an adjournment to review the pleading.

The counsel for the claimants concurred and the court granted the motion to adjourn the hearing. The Court scheduled the next hearing for 16 September 2011, at 10 a.m.