NEWS ITEM

Dual Victories in Nursing Home Bad Faith Bargaining Case

National Labor Relations Board Judge and the United States District Court for the Central District of California Issue Orders Requiring Southern California Nursing Home Employer to Bargain in Good Faith with its Union-Represented Employees

April 18, 2012 – An administrative law judge of the National Labor Relations Board and the United States District Court for the Central District of California have issued back-to-back orders requiring a southern California nursing home employer to bargain in good faith with its Union-represented employees. The case stems from an unfair labor practice charge filed by SEIU United Long Term Care Workers, alleging that the employer’s unyielding insistence for more than a year on a package of contract proposals that would have forced the Union to surrender all representational authority constituted bad faith “surface bargaining” in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. On April 16, 2012, following a three-day evidentiary hearing, the ALJ held that the employer’s insistence on these proposals at bargaining table was unlawful. On April 17, 2012, Judge Percy Anderson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued an injunction pursuant to §10(j) of the Act, finding that National Labor Relations Board Region 21 established that it is likely to succeed on the merits of the unfair labor practice charge before the National Labor Relations Board, and that an injunction is appropriate to prevent irreparable harm to the Union and employees pending further proceedings before the Board.

Altshuler Berzon LLP represents the Union, SEIU United Long Term Care Workers, in both the court case and NLRB proceeding.

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