A recent court ruling in New Jersey regarding a new owner that attempted to change nurses’ status deals a blow to operators.
The Third Circuit ruled on Dec. 26 that nurses who were rehired and promoted to supervisor status by the new owner of Coral Harbor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center remained union members with collective bargaining rights. The opinion sided with the National Labor Relations Board, which determined that the nursing home had violated the National Labor Relations Agreement when it unilaterally increased the nurses’ pay and modified their paid leave and health benefits without negotiating with 1199 Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers.
A new employer may set the initial terms of workers’ employment when it acquires their former employer, but it must bargain for those new terms if the workers are represented by a union, according to Judge Theodore A. McKee. The four LPNs who testified before the NLRB ultimately did not have supervisory powers, which would have made them exempt from union rights.
