A New Jersey nursing home must reinstate an employee who was fired after she complained on social media about working conditions at the facility, per an order from a federal agency.
The National Labor Relations Board told Atlas Healthcare at Maywood in Maywood, NJ, to hire back Latoya Carter or, if her position no longer exists, bring her back into a “substantially equivalent position, without prejudice to her seniority or any other rights or privileges previously enjoyed.” The ruling, which was issued in September but only posted to the NLRB’s site Friday, also orders the facility to compensate Carter for “any loss of earnings and other benefits” because of her dismissal and to cover any tax liabilities she might incur from the lump sum of backpay.
“[Atlas Healthcare] shall also compensate Carter for any other direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms incurred as a result of her unlawful discharge, including reasonable search-for-work and interim employment expenses, if any, regardless of whether these expenses exceed interim earnings,” the decision stated.
Atlas Healtcare’s attorney told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Monday that the board’s decision exceeds its authority, pointing out that the agency is limited to remedial actions.
“The NLRB’s authority to devise remedies that effectuate policies of National Labor Relations Act is limited to remedial actions and does not extend to punitive measures,” lawyer Eric R. Stern said in an emailed statement. “At best, the NLRB acted to punish Atlas for a procedural ‘gotcha’ despite knowing that Atlas is ready, willing and able to present a meritorious defense that its employment decision concerning Ms. Carter was not only lawful, but appropriate.”
Stern said Atlas plans to appeal the decision. NLRB rulings may be appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the appropriate jurisdiction.
Unlike court decisions that provide details on a case’s background, the NLRB ruling contains scant information as to what led to the complaint filed by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East on Carter’s behalf. Her role at Atlas Healthcare is not mentioned in any documents linked on the NLRB’s docket, nor are there publicly available copies of the Facebook posts that led to Carter’s dismissal.
According to the decision, Carter and other employees confronted facility Administrator Eli Finklestein in the lunchroom to complain about wages, hours and working conditions, specifically “about the shortage of clean linens and towels.” The decision noted that around Nov. 8, 2021, Carter made similar complaints on Facebook and that around Nov. 19, 2021, Finklestein terminated her employment via telephone.
The document stated that Finklestein carried out that action “to discourage employees from engaging in these or other concerted activities.”
