Beverly Enterprises Accused of Illegal Labor Practices by NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board has accused Pasadena-based Beverly Enterprises, the nation’s largest nursing home chain, of firing employees and committing other illegal acts in an attempt to prevent unionization at its facilities.
The Pittsburgh, Pa., regional office of the NLRB made the accusation in a complaint consolidating more than 40 charges against 20 Beverly facilities in six states--Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas and Washington. But the NLRB said the company has demonstrated a pattern of illegal labor relations practices across the country.
“We’ve alleged Beverly is a single, integrated enterprise for labor relations purposes and that because it is, and because of the unlawful pattern of conduct, we are seeking a national order against Beverly in order to abate the unlawful conduct that has occurred,” said Gerald Kobell, Pittsburgh regional director of the NLRB, in a telephone interview.
Beverly owns 1,085 nursing homes in 45 states and the District of Columbia and has 7% of all of the nursing home beds in the country, according to the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees.
The labor board case accuses Beverly of committing a host of violations of federal law, including: firing at least 25 workers involved in union activities; promising benefits to employees if they vote against union representation; giving workers the impression that they are under surveillance in an attempt to intimidate them, and threatening to sell or close nursing homes where workers approve a union. The company would have to reinstate some fired workers, give them back pay and agree to cease its illegal activities if the case succeeds.
Iliff McMahon, an NLRB spokesman in Washington, said that it was “rare” for the agency to seek a nationwide cease and desist order against a company, although he said that it has been done a few times.
Beverly’s chairman, Robert Van Tuyle, said Tuesday that the company had not yet received the complaint, which was filed Friday, and thus would not comment.
Kobell said, however, that he expects Beverly will contest the case vigorously. “Beverly and its attorneys have indicated they will oppose any attempt to treat Beverly as a single, integrated enterprise and would like the board to treat each facility” as if it were an independent entity.
Workers Harassed
But Kobell, noting that the board has handled nearly 100 complaints against Beverly over the past five years on a case-by-case basis, said that it decided a national order was needed in view of the number of charges against the company and the common pattern of violations.
In one instance, Kobell said, Beverly fired 17 workers on the same day, allegedly for wearing union buttons at a nursing home in Uniontown, Pa. Nearly four months later, after the board threatened to take action, the company reinstated the employees and gave them back pay.
Henry Nicholas, president of the Hospital and Health Care Employees union, which is involved in a number of the Pennsylvania cases, applauded the board’s action at a Washington news conference Tuesday.
“This complaint isn’t just about labor-management disputes,” Nicholas said. “It’s about people. It’s about caring. It’s about attitude. It’s not just about the people who work in nursing homes. It’s also about the people who live in them as well.”
In October, Beverly agreed to pay more than $600,000 in fines to settle allegations by the California Department of Health Services that nine patients died due to improper care. Under the settlement, three of Beverly’s 93 California homes, including the two where the deaths occurred, were placed on four years’ probation.
