The state has asked 900 nurses to turn in their licenses after the schools they attended in Florida were accused of selling degrees, but in a new lawsuit, an attorney for some of those nurses said the state has not provided them with due process, and should give them back their licenses.

“It was a mass email that was sent to everyone that suggested the school they went to has been accused of selling fraudulent degrees. There are no allegations directly against any of the individual nurses, at least that I represent,” Attorney Jesse Baldwin told NY1.

The state sent that demand last February, after the schools the nurses graduated from were part of a federal investigation into fraudulent diplomas and transcripts, called Operation Nightingale. It has so far resulted in several guilty pleas and convictions.

But Baldwin said the state education department, or NYSED, is violating the law itself, by not providing due process for the individual nurses to defend their education and licenses. He said the email, first sent last February, intimidated several of his clients into turning in their licenses before consulting with an attorney.

“It threatened them with a lot of actions if the nurses don’t mail in their license. And several of those actions that it threatens them with are illegal and beyond the power of NYSED. Several of them do not afford due process,” he said.

After mailing their licenses back, the nurses were listed as inactive and have been unable to work.

“You can’t surrender a license in New York by simply putting it in the mail. There is a process that protects the rights of the individuals who have earned their licenses,” he said. “None of that happened here.”

Meanwhile, nurses who attended the same schools but chose not to mail back their licenses are still practicing.

Baldwin said he has submitted evidence the nurses he represents did attend school, like in-person or remote class logs, travel expenses or records of clinical hours.

“Being concerned about having an appropriate nursing education is a legitimate concern for the state to have. But we have nurses here that have actually gone through a process that at least to them looked like a completely legitimate education, and that when looking at from the outside, I think for the most part it would it would look that way to most people as well,” Baldwin said. “And now that they have their license, they have rights. And their rights really boil down to that their cases have to be looked at individually. And so far, as far as I can tell, New York hasn’t done that.”

The state education department said it would not comment on pending litigation.