NLRB Accuses Nursing Home of Labor Violations

NLRB issues formal complaint against Laurelhurst Village

Visit www.FixTheCare.org, a new website launched by an Oregon long-term care advocacy group that examines problem long-term care facility management in Oregon for consumers, purchasers, health care workers and all who care about our health care system. The site's first subject is the Farmington Centers corporation.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint accusing a Portland nursing home of unfair labor practices for threatening, intimidating, spying on and punishing employees who were attempting to organize a union.

In a complaint signed May 29 by NLRB Region 19 Director Richard L. Ahearn in Seattle, the board put the Laurelhurst Village nursing facility on notice that it would be liable for back pay and interest in the case of one worker. The board contends the worker was fired as a result of her activity on behalf of an effort by employees to join Service Employees International Union Local 503 which represents workers at 26 Oregon nursing homes.

The federal complaint, which follows an investigation that included sworn testimony from employees and information supplied by management, details 11 separate allegations against the facility, which is owned by Portland-based Farmington Centers, Inc. It alleges that a flurry of unlawful activity in late March and early April designed to thwart the ability of workers to form a union included these specific acts:

. Laurelhurst Village managers issued a new rule barring off-duty employees from the facility, then enforced the rule to prevent workers from campaigning for the union, called Portland police and threatened to have workers arrested for supporting the union in a calculated effort to intimidate them and thwart their efforts to organize/

. Director of Operations Hannah Austin "created an impression that union activities were under surveillance" and "interrogated" employees about their own union activity and that of fellow workers.

. Administrator Sandy Ouellette and chef Richard Menegat "engaged in surveillance" of employees engaged in union activity.

. Environmental services director Kelly Dodd implied that employees would be subject to reprisal for distributing union literature.

. Managers warned a certified nursing aide, Andrea Glaser, to stop promoting the union.

. Managers took several disciplinary actions against a receptionist, Elizabeth Lehr, and then fired Lehr because she acted to help form a union.

The nursing home has until June 12 to answer the complaint. A hearing on the charges before a federal administrative law judge has been scheduled for July 14 in Portland.

SEIU Local 503 organizer Guillermo Galarreta says Lehr’s firing is part of an ongoing campaign of employee harassment and intimidation that is among the most blatant he has ever encountered in Oregon.

“We started the organizing campaign on February 27 and reached majority support a few weeks later with 77 workers signing cards and 21 of them joining the organizing committee,” Galaretta said. “On March 27, a certified nursing assistant, Tim Desir, was suspended for engaging in legal organizing activity. Six days later, after coming to Tim’s defense, Elizabeth Lehr was fired. Fearing for their jobs in a troubled economy, other employees started to back away from their aspirations to improve working conditions and patient care at one of Oregon’s most profit-driven and least reputable nursing facilities. After Elizabeth was fired only three more workers signed union authorization cards, 15 of the original card signers changed their minds about the union, and eight dropped off the organizing committee."

Laurelhurst is owned by Farmington Centers, headquartered in Southwest Portland, which manages two nursing facilities, 13 assisted living facilities, seven memory-care facilities and eight independent residential living facilities in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Its latest Medicare inspection rating was one star out of a possible five, well below average.
 Farmington Centers nursing homes reported a profit of $2.9 million from 2006 to 2008. More information about Farmington Centers here.

Inspectors identified rampant violations including six incidents of resident harm, including one incident of abuse, at Laurelhurst from 2006 to 2008 and documented 40 violations of state and federal rules and regulations at Farmington Centers nursing homes from 2007 to 2008 including fecal impaction, pressure sores, significant weight loss, inadequate care after falls, medication errors, failure to follow physician orders.

Download copy of NLRB complaint