ARMSTRONG COUNTY — A National Labor Relations Board civil suit against ACMH Hospital is set to go before an administrative law judge later this month, but union officials say they’d rather wrap up contract negotiations and avoid a trial.

The suit on behalf of technical employees at the hospital asks for compensation between $800 and $1,000 for each of the 125 members of the Licensed Practical Nurses and Technicians union, and also accuses hospital administrators of discriminating against employees who are participating in union activities.

Bill Cruice, director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which is representing the union, called the allegations the latest in a string of “rampant violations of employee rights,” at the hospital.

Union officials accuse hospital administrators of barring union members from picketing on hospital property, and taking away some employees’ ability to create their own schedules as punishment for unionizing.

Anne Remaley, the hospital’s vice president of human resources, vigorously denied the charges in an e-mail.

“The fact is that the parties have been negotiating in good faith, but the union has been unable to effect a reasonable contract,” she said.

Union officials claim the hospital violated labor laws in part by withholding an annual 2 percent pay raise and some back pay from 125 union members, who are technical employees at the hospital, as punishment for unionizing.

Remaley, in her e-mail, said the hospital shouldn’t have to award the raises, which are given to nonunionized employees, to union members while contract negotiations are under way.

The union and hospital have been in contract negotiations since August 2014. Cruice said a major sticking point for union members is staffing levels in some departments, as well as a “more equitable” retirement plan for technical employees.

Cruice said the employees would prefer to avoid a trial before an administrative law judge. A decision in the case could take several months to be handed down, he said.

“Unfortunately nothing happens quickly with the labor relations board,” Cruice said.

Both groups were holding contract negotiations this week, and Cruice said the talks would continue even if a trial were to commence, but that’s not his preferred result.

“Our preference is to conclude the contract that we’ve been negotiating for many months now with the hospital,” he said.

Suzanne Bernett, a regional attorney with the NLRB and the deputy director of the organization’s Pittsburgh office, did not return a message left seeking comment on the suit.