Eleven of 27 nurses and a physical therapist who had filed a class suit against Sentosa Recruitment Agency last year for alleged violations of their contract and unfair labor practices pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges they had endangered the lives of their patients when they resigned en masse to protest the charges against them.
The nurses had filed a class action for damages before the Nassau County Supreme Court last year but Sentosa countersued and filed a civil suit against the Filipinos. The nurses’ suit has not yet been resolved.
The nurses were indicted in a criminal case in Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead, New York, after Sentosa charged they had walked out of their jobs at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation Center in Smithtown, NY.
The law office of Salvador Tuy, which represents the Filipino nurses, said the nurses could not be prosecuted because there was no contract between Avalon Gardens and the nurses. The law office also established violations and discrimination against the Filipino nurses.
During the nurses’ arraignment, Filipino lawyer Felix Vinluan was also arraigned for interference and he also pleaded not guilty.
Records of the case showed the Filipino nurses were made to work for Avalon Gardens instead of Sentosa, which was not in their original contract.
All the nurses were recruited as immigrant workers from the Philippines through Sentosa Recruitment Agency, a single proprietorship under the name of Francris Luyun, who presently works for one of the NY nursing homes owned or managed by Bent Philipson, a Danish citizen and a permanent resident of the United States.
When the nurses and the physical therapist arrived in the US, they thought they would be working directly for the nursing home that sponsored each of them. But they were surprised to learn that most of them were to work for a different nursing home. Only a few of them actually went to work for the nursing home that sponsored them. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer)
The nurses had filed a class action for damages before the Nassau County Supreme Court last year but Sentosa countersued and filed a civil suit against the Filipinos. The nurses’ suit has not yet been resolved.
The nurses were indicted in a criminal case in Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead, New York, after Sentosa charged they had walked out of their jobs at Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation Center in Smithtown, NY.
The law office of Salvador Tuy, which represents the Filipino nurses, said the nurses could not be prosecuted because there was no contract between Avalon Gardens and the nurses. The law office also established violations and discrimination against the Filipino nurses.
During the nurses’ arraignment, Filipino lawyer Felix Vinluan was also arraigned for interference and he also pleaded not guilty.
Records of the case showed the Filipino nurses were made to work for Avalon Gardens instead of Sentosa, which was not in their original contract.
All the nurses were recruited as immigrant workers from the Philippines through Sentosa Recruitment Agency, a single proprietorship under the name of Francris Luyun, who presently works for one of the NY nursing homes owned or managed by Bent Philipson, a Danish citizen and a permanent resident of the United States.
When the nurses and the physical therapist arrived in the US, they thought they would be working directly for the nursing home that sponsored each of them. But they were surprised to learn that most of them were to work for a different nursing home. Only a few of them actually went to work for the nursing home that sponsored them. (The Philippine Daily Inquirer)
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