NY judge lets criminal charges stand against Pinoy nurses who quit jobs

NEW YORK (AP) – A New York state judge has refused to throw out criminal charges against 10 nurses from the Philippines who were arrested after they quit their jobs at a Long Island nursing home during a labor dispute.

The nurses resigned without notice from the Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Smithtown, on Long Island, east of New York City, during the spring of 2006, forcing the facility to scramble to cover their shifts.

No harm was done to patients, but Suffolk County prosecutors accused the nurses of criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children for leaving their jobs so abruptly. Some of the home’s residents included disabled children in a pediatric unit.

State regulators cleared the nurses of any administrative wrongdoing last fall, but the facility hired a lawyer and pressed District Attorney Thomas Spota to file a criminal case anyway.

The judge, Robert Doyle, denied a motion to dismiss the case Friday.

A lawyer for the nurses, James Druker, said they had a right to quit, and are innocent of any crime.

“This is the classic uphill battle, but we’re going to fight on,” Druker told Newsday after the ruling.

The nurses had been recruited abroad to work in the US for three years, but wound up unhappy with their working conditions. Authorities said they quit on the advice of their attorney, Felix Vinluan, who is also charged.

Vinluan and the nurses could face up to six years in prison if convicted on the charges.