ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a second agreement with Albany Med Health System. This comes after The AG’s Office found that Albany Med forced former nurses to pay fees they weren’t required to after resignation or termination.

Albany Med allegedly included an illegal provision in its employment contracts with nurses hired overseas. The illegal provision, or “repayment fee,” required nurses to pay thousands of dollars if they resigned or were fired within their first three years of working at Albany Med.

This comes on the heels of a 2021 finding where James recovered more than $90,000 for seven former employees who were forced to illegally pay the hospital. The settlement will reportedly return more than $24,000 to eight nurses who were forced to make illegal repayment fees to Albany Med between 2007 and 2010. Overall, Albany Med is set to reportedly pay $114,000 in restitution to those affected.

“I will not allow hardworking nurses — frontline workers — to be taken advantage of in New York State,” said Attorney General James. “Our health care system is dependent on nurses, and they deserve to be treated with the highest respect and dignity. My office will always fight for health care workers, and I am proud that we can continue to protect the nurses who were impacted by these illegal contracts, return the funds stolen from them, and hold employers accountable.”

“This second settlement for Albany Medical Center nurses is a victory for immigrant nurses and workers everywhere who have been subjected to coercive employment contracts,” said President of the New York State Nurses Association, Nancy Hagans. “We applaud Attorney General Letitia James’ office for taking action to protect New York’s workers — wherever they hail from — and winning a settlement that returns some of the nurses’ hard-earned money.”

Albany Med was required to remove the repayment provision from all employment contracts in June 2021. They have since complied with all terms of the agreement.