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🗞️ Labor Board Orders DaVita to Bargain With Concord Dialysis Union

The NLRB ruled DaVita's Concord, California dialysis clinic must recognize and bargain with SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, rejecting the company's challenges to a 2024 union election as already litigated.

onthelaborfront

onthelaborfront

— 2 min read
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🗞️ Labor Board Orders DaVita to Bargain With Concord Dialysis Union

The National Labor Relations Board issued a decision on July 27, 2026, ordering Renal Treatment Centers, operating as DaVita Concord Dialysis Center, to recognize and bargain with SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, the union that won a certification election at the Concord facility in May 2024. The case followed a familiar pattern in American labor law known as a technical refusal to bargain, in which an employer declines to negotiate with a newly certified union in order to obtain judicial review of the underlying election in a federal appeals court, since Board certification decisions cannot otherwise be appealed directly.

DaVita had argued that the Regional Director erred by directing an election in a single facility bargaining unit rather than a broader one, and it raised objections to the conduct of the election itself. The Board found that these arguments had already been considered and rejected in the earlier representation proceeding, including a February 2026 order upholding the certification and a June 2026 denial of DaVita's motion for reconsideration. The Board also dismissed constitutional arguments DaVita raised concerning the removal protections of Board members and a claimed right to a jury trial, citing established precedent.

The ruling arrives amid a broader wave of organizing among California dialysis workers. Employees at DaVita, Fresenius Medical Care, Satellite Healthcare, and U.S. Renal Care have unionized at dozens of clinics since 2022, with the union citing concerns about staffing levels and patient safety. Nearly 1,000 workers took part in a six day unfair labor practice strike across those companies' clinics in October 2024. DaVita has said it remains focused on patient care and has disputed the union's characterizations of its labor practices, while SEIU UHW has accused the company of using NLRB proceedings to delay bargaining. The Board's order requires DaVita to bargain with the union on request, post notices to employees, and certify its compliance with Region 32 within 21 days.

Key Points

  • The NLRB granted summary judgment against DaVita after finding no new evidence or special circumstances warranting reconsideration of the certified bargaining unit.
  • The Board corrected the record to reflect July 8, 2024, as the date the union became the exclusive bargaining representative and July 23, 2024, as the date DaVita's refusal to bargain began.
  • DaVita's constitutional challenges, including arguments about Board member removal protections and a Seventh Amendment jury trial claim, were rejected based on existing case law.
  • The case is part of a larger pattern of NLRB litigation and strikes involving SEIU UHW and major dialysis providers across California since 2022.
  • DaVita must post and electronically distribute employee notices for 60 days and file a sworn compliance certification with Region 32 within 21 days.

Primary Source Author: National Labor Relations Board (Chairman James R. Murphy and Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer)

Primary Source: Renal Treatment Centers, California, Inc. d/b/a DaVita Concord Dialysis Center and SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, 375 NLRB No. 13, Case 32 CA 347702 (July 27, 2026)

Primary Source Link: www.nlrb.gov/case/32-CA-347702

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