Mount Sinai Hospital disciplined three nurses who spoke to the media and to fellow staff about safety concerns following an attempted shooting in the hospital’s emergency department last month — a consequence their union calls unlawful.
The New York State Nurses Association alleges that Mount Sinai’s decision to write up two nurses and suspend another the day after Thanksgiving for discussing the union’s safety proposals with fellow nurses amounts to illegal retaliation at a time where the union is actively negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement ahead of a Dec. 31 strike deadline.
The union is demanding Mount Sinai remove the disciplinary actions from the nurses’ records; NYSNA intends to file formal complaints to the U.S. labor board as soon as this week, sources told THE CITY.
“These are members who weeks ago literally put themselves in the line of fire to protect their patients, and it is shameful that Mount Sinai would treat them this way,” union president Nancy Hagans said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Mount Sinai pointed THE CITY to a letter that CEO Brendan Carr sent to hospital staff on Nov. 18 where he said that “campus safety is an essential foundation upon which we build our organizational culture and trust.”
“We are in the process of expanding both our enhanced visitor management and weapons detection programs,” wrote Carr. “We expect that cutting-edge weapons-detection technology implementation will be completed at our major campuses in 2026. We will not stop there; we are constantly testing and refining our systems and procedures to ensure they work, just as they did in this instance.”
The dispute dates to the evening of Nov. 13 when Elijah Brown, 20, reportedly stormed the Upper East Side hospital’s emergency room entrance and threatened to shoot. After being escorted out by a guard, Brown was fatally shot in a standoff with police on Madison Avenue after he aimed his gun at officers.
Brown was brought back to the emergency room — and treated by the same medical staff he’d just threatened. He died of his injuries there.
No one on staff was hurt, but the three nurses used the opportunity to canvass fellow nurses about the union’s safety proposals — including their demands Mount Sinai install weapons-detection technology in every entrance of the facility.
Some of those nurses, among them emergency department nurse Gueldye Beaubrun, also spoke to the media about the shooting and their safety demands.
Beaubrun was informed by her supervisor that she had flouted hospital policy prohibiting on-the-job union activities in discussing union matters with fellow staff — even though she claims she was off the clock when she canvassed nurses on the union’s safety proposals and other bargaining items. She noted the distinction is important because she was not caring for patients while performing union duties.
“It’s union busting, what Mount Sinai is doing. They’re trying to intimidate us so we are not organized,” Beaubrun told THE CITY. “They are afraid that we will strike.”
She and another nurse, Sophie Damas, were issued what they described to THE CITY as a “final written warning” the day after Thanksgiving. A third nurse, who the union declined to identify to THE CITY, was suspended, according to the union.
Both Beaubrun and Damas said the hospital is attempting to “silence” them and that they will not be intimidated. The latest controversy has only strengthened Mount Sinai nurses’ resolve as they push their demands, according to Damas.
“They feel betrayed, and some of them are more encouraged, and they are ready to basically strike,” said Damas.
NYSNA and Mount Sinai are locked in ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 4,300 nurses, and occupational safety has been a major sticking point of those talks. Nationally, health care workers experience the highest count of non-fatal workplace violence of all private sector employees. In 2023, nurses at Mount Sinai and other private-sector hospital systems struck for three days for better pay and staffing ratios.
Beauburn, who is also on the union’s bargaining committee, was not working on the evening of the attempted shooting. But she said other nurses reported to her that the response was “chaotic.” For several minutes it was unclear whether the shooter was inside or outside the hospital, she said.
The entrance Brown used had a metal detector, and it may have saved lives, staff said, which is why they are pushing for weapons detection technology at every entrance.
After briefly ducking inside a hospital entry, Brown went back outside and left his gun on the sidewalk, according to police, before reentering.
Beaubrun said that the union would like to see greater urgency from hospital management. The union is organizing a gathering outside Mount Sinai Hospital Thursday evening to draw more attention to what they described as the “unfair” disciplinary actions.
“It was a very close call,” Beaubrun said of the shooting. “For years we have been warning that something like this could happen.”
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