Brothers Daniel and Moshael Straus co-founded the Care One and HealthBridge nursing home companies. Care One and HealthBridge have been found to have violated federal labor law 40 times. Some nursing homes run by these companies have cut healthcare benefits, staffing and wages for caregivers, have unlawfully fired workers for trying to form a union, or have refused to recognize their workers’ legally protected right to form a union.

For eight months, starting in July of 2012, almost 700 workers at the five Connecticut homes formerly run by HealthBridge went on strike after the company unilaterally implemented reductions in their terms and conditions of employment, including increases to the cost of healthcare benefits for caregivers and their families and reductions in hours of work. The NLRB sought an injunction and United States District Judge Chatigny ordered the company to immediately reinstate the workers at their previous rates of pay, and return to the bargaining table in good faith. The company applied for a stay of the injunction, requesting the US Supreme Court to intervene. When the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, the company agreed to rehire the workers as ordered and, shortly thereafter, filed for bankruptcy at those five homes. Effective April 1, 2015, the five nursing homes are now owned by Traditions Senior Management, Inc.

In New Jersey, in June 2013 a hearing officer with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recommended that the caregivers at Care One at Madison Avenue have a new union election due to management’s unlawful conduct during the first election, which was held on March 23, 2012. The nursing home workers, who sought to be represented by 1199SEIU, lost the original election by a one-vote margin. The hearing officer found that Care One at Madison Avenue made threats of violence when its anti-union consultant told a union representative that he would “kick his ass” in the presence of one of the workers eligible to vote, among other coercive tactics.

And it’s not just caregivers who have suffered. At a Care One assisted living facility in New Jersey, a resident was overbilled for services, resulting in significantly increased charges without her or her family’s consent.

Meanwhile, these companies have proven profitable. In fiscal year 2010, Care One had $45 million¹ in profits, and the Care One homes made $230 million² in annual payments to related companies for real estate, pharmacy and management services. HealthBridge Management, its management company, saw $102 million in partnership drawings from 2010 to 2012³.

Tell Daniel Straus to support healthy communities instead of corporate greed.

¹ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Healthcare Cost report Information System (“HCRIS”), fiscal year 2010
² Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Healthcare Cost report Information System (“HCRIS”), fiscal year 2010
³ Massachusetts Department of Health Care Finance, 2010 to 2012 HCF-3 cost report for Healthbridge Management, LLC