The Temple University Health System had no right to phase out a long-standing policy, of paying for the children of hospital employees to attend the school, without first bargaining with the union over the issue, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has determined.

The ruling requires Temple to reinstate the tuition policy it changed in March and reimburse about 150 nurses and other professional staff. Each is owed between $7,000 and $15,000, depending on whether the individual lives in Pennsylvania or out of state, said Bill Cruice, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), which represents about 1,500 Temple workers.

In a statement last night, Temple said it intended to appeal the decision.

"Our decision to eliminate tuition assistance for the children of all health-system employees was based on several factors," Temple said. "It is not a competitive benefit within the marketplace; it's discriminatory in that it applies to only a small number of employees, and it's inconsistent with the economic realities of the region."

Cruice said the tuition benefit was "central" to recruiting and maintaining highly skilled staff. It remains "a key issue" in the group's ongoing contract negotiations with Temple, he said.

Nurses and allied professionals have been working under the terms of a bargaining agreement that expired Sept. 30.

PASNAP filed a complaint accusing Temple of bad-faith bargaining one day after the tuition policy changed. The change did not eliminate tuition payment for dependents of university employees, Cruice said.

The labor board's finding, issued Thursday, upholds an Oct. 6 determination by one of its hearing examiners that Temple violated the Public Employee Relations Act.

In defending the policy alteration, Temple noted previous changes that the union did not fight. Therefore, the health system contended, PASNAP had waived its right to prospectively bargain over changes to the policy.