A federal appeals court ruled a Michigan nursing home did not violate federal law by not bargaining with unionized employees when it increased hourly pay during the pandemic and hired non-union workers.
In August, the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit overturned a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board that had gone against Fountain Bleu Health and Rehabilitation Center. The appeals court said the NLRB was wrong to order the facility to bargain with union employees over a $2 per hour pay increase during the pandemic while staff were caring for COVID-positive residents.
The case has been one of several closely watched at the national level for how courts judge long-term care facilities that changed operations during the declared public health emergency.
Fountain Bleu “facing staff shortages, took emergency measures to keep its residents safe,” the appeals court wrote in its ruling.
After a COVID outbreak at the facility early in the pandemic, approximately 75% of Fountain Bleu’s unionized workforce — licensed practical workers and certified nurse aides — stopped reporting for shifts. The facility responded by hiring non-union labor and raising wages by $2 per hour for those treating COVID patients. The court’s ruling said that notice of the pay raise and the number of COVID cases among residents was posted next to a time clock.
From April 9 through Nov. 2, 2020, the facility used a federal waiver to hire non-union, non-certified nurse aides to replace CNAs who weren’t reporting to work, the court’s ruling said. The last day the nursing home recorded a COVID-positive resident was June 11, 2020, and the pay hike was suspended at the end of that pay period on June 16.
Fountain Bleu did not respond to a request for comment from McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
From the october 2024 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
