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BREAKING NEWS!

Southern California Nursing Home Operator to Pay Employees $4 Million in Class Action Suit

Workers prevail in three-year court battle over unpaid breaks and meal times.

LOS ANGELES (12/10/07)- Nursing home workers from 32 facilities across Southern California won a $4 million judgement this past Thursday, after settling a class action suit filed against their employer, Longwood Management Corporation.

Forced to work through meal periods and breaks without compensation, the hourly employees sued Longwood in 2003 for wage and hour law violations.

The settlement is a huge win for nursing home employees and patients alike, making it clear to administrators that they will not get away with exploiting workers, and they must make proper staffing levels a priority in their homes to ensure quality patient care.

The judgement also means renewed confidence and dignity for employees who fear losing their job if they speak up when administrators violate the law.

SEIU Healthcare - United Long-Term Care Workers' Union represents about 400 employees in four of the Longwood facilities. Enriqueta Hernandez, a union member and CNA at Montrose Healthcare, called the judgement "monumental."

"I am happy because this proves the law is working for us, " Hernandez said. Hernandez has been working at the Longwood facility since before the suit began and will receive the maximum payout from the settlement. "These problems have been going on for a long time, but I know that if we join together and fight we can win."

"If it wasn't for the courage and perseverance of the plantiffs who stepped forward we never would have got what we deserved," said Dori Camacho, a CNA at Intercommunity Care Center. "It just shows that if we stick together, we can get fair treatment and justice."

NLRB Rules In Favor of Nursing Home Workers!

Decision Estimated to Cost Employer Thousands!

Three years ago, S&F Market Street Healthcare (S&F) took over the operation of the Windsor Convalescent Center of North Long Beach whose employees had been represented for many years by SEIU. Instead of honoring that relationship, S&F took action to deny its employees their right to representation. Not only did S&F refuse to hire four Union stewards, but S&F also terminated other Union activists. S&F also refused to recognize and bargain with the Union.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a comprehensive decision, which concluded that all of S&F’s actions to purge the Union from the nursing home violated federal law. The Union stewards and other activists who were fired must be reinstated with full back pay and benefits since their termination in July 2004. S&F was also ordered to bargain with the Union and reinstate the wages, hours and other terms of employment that existed under the Union contracts – retroactive to July 2004.

S&F needs to now take swift action to remedy its violations and negotiate a fair contract with SEIU.

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SUMMARY OF ACTIONS S&F MUST FULFILL:

The Federal Government has ordered Windsor Convalescent Center of North Long Beach to pay for all losses suffered by its former and current workers. In response to charges filed by the Long-Term Care Workers' Union, the National Relations Board issued a September 30, 2007 order with the following provisions:

The employer must offer all the union activists their jobs back.

The employer must pay the union activists all lost pay and benefits since July 1, 2004.

The employer must pay all workers at the facility the difference between the pay and benefits they have received and what they would have received under the union contract back to July 1, 2004.

The employer must reinstate the conditions of employment that existed before July 1, 2004.

Bargain in good faith with the Long Term Care Workers Union