Representative John Kline of Minnesota introduced the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act last week in response to recent NLRB actions affecting employers. One aspect of this Bill is the reversal of the NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare decision which altered the established standard for determining collective bargaining units in non-acute care health facilities.
The Specialty Healthcare decision would make it possible for workers of different classifications to be represented by multiple unions within the same long-term care facility. Providers and advocacy groups have assailed this decision because they believe it will significantly increase cost in an environment of decreasing reimbursements and erode quality of care due to fractured employment terms. The Bill seeks a return to the pre-Specialty Healthcare standard.
The Bill also addresses other recent NLRB actions concerning the time-frame employers have to prepare for pre-election hearings before the NLRB and the amount of information employers are required to provide to the NLRB. A press release from Rep. Kline is available on the Education & The Workforce Committee’s website with additional information.
Affected providers should contact their Congressional Representative to discuss this Bill.
Should you have any questions, please contact:
Travis Meek at 317.977.1489 or tmeek@wp.hallrender.com;
Todd Selby at 317.977.1440 or tselby@wp.hallrender.com;
Brian Jent at 317.977.1402 or bjent@wp.hallrender.com; or
David Bufford at 502.568.9368 or dbufford@wp.hallrender.com, or your regular Hall Render attorney.
