🗞️ NLRB Enters Default Judgment Against Pennsylvania Nursing Home Operator Over Bargaining Failures
The NLRB entered default judgment against Bles Healthcare's Rosemont facility in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, after it failed to answer a labor complaint, finding it broke bargaining duties owed to its SEIU represented staff.
The National Labor Relations Board has ordered Bles Healthcare Management, LLC, which operates the Rosemont Care and Rehabilitation Center in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, to bargain with SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and to hand over years of withheld staffing and benefits data, after the company did not participate in its own defense.
The case did not turn on a contested factual record. The Board's three sitting members, Chairman James Murphy and Members David Prouty and Scott Mayer, granted a default judgment because Rosemont never filed an answer to a consolidated complaint covering two charges brought by the union, and it did not respond to a subsequent Board order to show cause. Under NLRB procedural rules, that silence causes the General Counsel's allegations to be treated as admitted.
Those admitted facts describe a nursing home that has recognized SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania as the exclusive bargaining representative for its licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and service and maintenance employees since 2005, most recently under a contract that ran from February 2023 through June 2025 and was subsequently extended through May 2026. The Board found that the facility unilaterally stopped posting open certified nursing assistant positions starting in May 2024 without first notifying or bargaining with the union. Separately, the Board found that beginning in April 2025 the facility either declined outright to provide, or unreasonably delayed providing for periods ranging up to about eight months, information the union had requested to carry out its representational duties, including staffing and overtime data, health insurance and retirement plan details, and workplace safety records.
The order requires Rosemont to rescind the change to its job posting practice, supply the outstanding records to the union, bargain with the union before making further changes to pay or working conditions, and post a notice to employees for 60 days describing the violations and their rights under federal labor law. Because the case was resolved through a procedural default rather than a hearing on the merits, it does not establish new legal precedent; it applies the Board's existing default judgment rules to an employer that did not respond to the charges against it.
Key Points
- The NLRB granted default judgment against Bles Healthcare Management's Rosemont facility after it filed no answer to a labor complaint and did not respond to a notice to show cause.
- Because the allegations went uncontested, the Board treated them as admitted without holding an evidentiary hearing.
- The facility has recognized SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania since 2005 as the bargaining representative for its licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and service and maintenance staff.
- Violations found include unilaterally halting the posting of open CNA positions since May 2024, and either refusing outright or unreasonably delaying, by as much as roughly eight months, responses to union requests for staffing, insurance, retirement, and safety information.
- The Board ordered Rosemont to rescind the posting change, supply the outstanding data, bargain before making further changes, and post a notice to employees for 60 days.
- The ruling resolves a procedural default rather than a contested factual dispute, so it sets no new precedent on the underlying bargaining questions.
Primary Source Author: National Labor Relations Board (Chairman James R. Murphy, Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer)
Primary Source: Bles Healthcare Management, LLC, Rosemont Care and Rehabilitation Center and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, 375 NLRB No. 22, Cases 04-CA-345152 and 04-CA-366793 (July 31, 2026)
Primary Source Link: www.nlrb.gov/case/04-CA-345152
