By now you have probably heard the American Health Care Association plans to take industry regulators to court.
For the few in the field who still haven’t, here’s the scoop — as my colleague Kimberly Marselas reported first on Friday: The AHCA lawsuit targets CMS’s proposed national nursing home staffing mandate, alleging that it exceeds the agency’s authority and that it “creates impossible-to-meet standards that will harm thousands of nursing homes and the vulnerable Americans they serve.”
“CMS does not even try to claim that the statutory provisions in which Congress explicitly addressed staffing requirements empower it to enact these sweeping new mandates,” the lawsuit states. Those standards are “arbitrary and capricious,” AHCA adds.
But it’s not just skilled care providers who are questioning whether their overseers have gone too far.
Recently, several business groups told a federal judge that the Labor Department’s proposed overtime rule update is unlawful. This measure, which will soon take effect, requires that workers earning less than $58,656 each year receive overtime pay. It also has provisions for automatic increases.
Their lawsuit alleges the department’s salary threshold is so high that it makes it all-but-impossible for employers to determine which jobs should count as executive, administrative or professional positions.
Then there’s this: Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission finalized a measure intended to ban noncompete clauses. The next day, the US Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a lawsuit that would ban the ban. Their argument may sound familiar: The regulatory agency overstepped its bounds.
If it seems like a lot more businesses are questioning authority these days, maybe it’s because they are. The same Chamber of Commerce announced it will file at least 22 lawsuits against Biden administration regulators before the November elections. That compares to just three when Donald Trump was president.
It’s not hard to see why such lawsuits seem to be more common than cicadas lately. As a general rule, they surge when Democrats — who are usually perceived as far less business friendly – occupy the White House. Moreover, given the Supreme Court’s current 6-3 conservative majority, it’s far more likely these challenges will get a sympathetic review.
These days, businesses facing unreasonable new rules can embrace a familiar battle cry: See you in court. That sure beats the not so good old days, when all they could do was cry.
John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s.
Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.
