ThedaCare loses court fight to keep health care staff who resigned

A hospital in northeastern Wisconsin has lost a court battle to keep health care staff who want to work elsewhere.On Monday, Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Mark McGinnis held a hearing on a case that involves staff who were part of ThedaCare’s radiology and cardiovascular team, deciding the employer can't force workers who had resigned to stay until replacements were hired.The civil court case between ThedaCare and Ascension Wisconsin comes at a time when health professionals are in great demand across the U.S.Attorneys for Ascension argued in court Monday that ThedaCare had known for weeks the employees were resigning and should have prepared for that instead of responding with a "frantic, last-minute lawsuit."Just days before, seven former employees of ThedaCare were to start new jobs at Ascension's St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton. In addition, many are relying on temporary staffing agencies to fill gaps.Ascension said in a statement they did not initiate the ThedaCare employees, but rather the seven people had applied to open job postings."It is Ascension Wisconsin’s understanding that ThedaCare had an opportunity but declined to make competitive counter offers to retain its former employees," a spokesperson for Ascension wrote in an email.A former ThedaCare employee, Timothy Breister, told the court that "one member of our team received an outstanding offer not just in pay but also a better work/life balance which in turn caused the rest of us to apply" and that no matching offers were made.