D.C. hospital fires nurses for snow absences

Washington Hospital Center officials have concluded their review of employees who did not report to work during crippling snowstorms in February and found cause to terminate 21 employees, including 15 nurses.

Three employees who had been terminated were given their jobs back.

The announcement came Thursday in a letter from Hospital President Harrison J. Rider III.

"While I am very pleased that we found merit in some of the cases we reviewed, we have not found any redeeming circumstances in the behavior of the others, so we are proceeding with the dismissals of 21 total associates," Rider wrote.

The District's largest private hospital initially fired 11 nurses and five support staff members who failed to make it to work during the back-to-back February snowstorms.

--Theresa Vargas