(MASSILLON, OHIO) – Registered Nurse (RN) Ann Wayt Recently Won a $2 Million Award Against the Affinity Medical Center After the Massillon, Ohio Hospital Fired Her and Attempted to Ruin Her Reputation for Helping Unionize Nurses.

Many May Think the Size of the Jury Award are the Most Important Words in That Sentence, But for Wayt – an RN for 38 Years, One Word Stands Out as the Most Important: Reputation.

She’d Always Excelled at Nursing, Especially in Patient Care.

The Hospital Had Even Admitted That, Giving Her its Nurse Excellence Award in 2008.

But All That Changed in 2012, When Wayt and Other Nurses Began Organizing a Union to Improve Working Conditions, Including Those Involving Patient Care.

All of a Sudden, the Nurse - Whose Performance Was Once Considered Excellent, Was Now Being Recast as Negligent.

The Hospital Even Sought to Have Her License Revoked.

"I’d Taken My Job as a Nurse ‘Very Seriously,’" she said. "For Someone to ‘Make Up’ Charges Against Me - Like That Wasn't Something I Could Imagine Anyone Would Do - it Was ‘Wrong’ and There Was ‘No Way’ I Would Sit Back and Just Let it Happen."

Community Health Systems, Incorporated - the Franklin, Tennessee-Based Company Which Owns Affinity, Declined Comment, Including Whether CHS Would Appeal the Jury's Verdict.

Wayt said the Firing and Reputation Smear Left Her No Option But to Fight Back.

"Everything Just Crumbles Around You With Allegations Like That," said Wayt, Whom the Hospital Fired in September 2012, Shortly After the Nurses Had Voted in a Union.

That Included the Prospect of Finding a New Job.  Though Experienced and in an In-Demand Profession, Wayt Couldn't Get Hired.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Found the Hospital Had Targeted Wayt Because of Her Union Organizing Activities.  A Federal Judge Later Ordered she be Reinstated to Her Job.  She Returned to Work in February 2014.

But She Wanted More Than Her Job Back.

She Wanted Her Good Name Back, So she Sued Affinity for Damaging Her Reputation.

In February, a Stark County Jury Rendered a Verdict in Her Favor.

The $2 Million Award Included the Hospital Having to Pay Wayt $800,000 in Compensatory Damages for Harming Her Reputation and Another $750,000 in Punitive Damages.

More Than Two Months Later, the Verdict is Still Reverberating Throughout the Organized Labor Community.

"This Verdict Made ‘Clear’ Workers ‘Can’ Resist, Fight Back and Win Against Even the Most Heavily Funded Attacks That Some Corporations Carry Out on a Regular Basis," Ohio AFL-CIO Spokesman Michael Gillis said. "We Have Laws That Protect Workers and ‘Justice Was Served’ in This Case." 

To Read the Rest of This Labor News Story, Go to: www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/04/nurse_ann_wayt_wins_2_million.html#incart_river