1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, represented by Jessica Harris and William Massey of Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss, is backing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in federal appeals court, defending a ruling that found a New Jersey nursing home operator violated labor law by cutting employees’ hours without union consent.
1199SEIU filed a brief with the D.C. Circuit urging the court to enforce the NLRB’s June 2020 decision against 800 River Road Operating Co. LLC, which runs the CareOne facility (also known as Woodcrest Health Care Center) in New Milford, NJ. The union is intervening in the appeal to preserve the board’s finding that the company unlawfully reduced work hours for 20 bargaining unit employees.
According to court filings, the workers had regularly worked 40-hour weeks until mid-2014, when the company unilaterally reduced their schedules to 37.5 hours per week—without notifying or bargaining with the union. The NLRB ruled this was a clear violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
The union argues that payroll records provide strong evidence of the change, showing a consistent drop in weekly hours immediately after the employer’s unilateral move. In its brief, 1199SEIU dismissed the company’s claim that its written policy allowed for hour fluctuations, contending that long-standing practice—not policy documents—determines the employment status quo under labor law. The union also rejected the employer’s claim that the relevant “status quo” should be assessed as of the 2012 union election. Instead, 1199SEIU argued the correct baseline is the period just before the 2014 changes, calling the company’s position “preposterous.”
1199SEIU continues to press for contract negotiations at the facility, where workers have been unionized since 2012 but have yet to secure a collective bargaining agreement.