Heritage Valley Health System, which owns and operates a hospital in Beaver, Pa., must arbitrate  its dispute with a union over whether the hospital breached their collective bargaining agreement by assigning registered nurses to work as patient care assistants, a federal appeals court said in an unpublished opinion.

Heritage Valley and the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania entered into an agreement effective from July 1, 2016 until June 30, 2019. 

In 2018, the union filed a grievance under the agreement alleging that the hospital assigned registered nurses to work as patient care assistants multiple times, in violation of mandatory nurse-to-patient staffing ratios that were bargained for between both sides, according to court documents. 

The union and hospital disagree on  whether  the contract requires arbitration of the alleged breach. Heritage Valley contends its actions were allowed and excluded from the contract arbitration clause, while the union sued the hospital in U.S.  District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, claiming its grievance was an arbitrable violation.

The district court sided with the union, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit backed that decision.