Bethany Bump reports in the Times Union that State Attorney General Letitia ("LEE-tish-ia") James says Albany Medical Center violated human trafficking law and must repay Filipino nurses over $90,000 in restitution. James says Albany Med violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by including a “repayment fee” provision in its employment contracts with nurses recruited from foreign nations. That would force the nurses to pay the hospital up to $20,000 if they resigned or were fired within the first three years of their employment or face legal action from immigration authorities. “As we’ve seen with the COVID-19 crisis, nurses are the backbone of our health care system and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity,” James said in a June 17 news release. “By forcing its employees to choose between paying outrageous sums to leave their jobs, or facing immigration authorities, Albany Med violated their rights as workers and as individuals.” The hospital must now remove the provision from all its employment contracts. Apparently, that action will be taken reluctantly. "We do not agree with the Attorney General’s characterization of the facts in this case, and we do not believe that Albany Med did anything wrong," spokesperson Matthew Markham said. "However, is was not worth our time, effort or expense to fight these politically motivated allegations, and the settlement agreement we entered into specifically states that we did not admit to any violation of the law. We value all of our nurses and are proud of our efforts to recruit and support nurses from the Philippines who are eager to train and provide care as part of our Albany Med team." Read more about this story in the Times Union.