Health Law Advisor

Our colleagues Adam C. Abrahms and Christina C. Rentz, attorneys at Epstein Becker Green, have a post on the Management Memo blog that will be of interest to many of our readers in the health care industry: “NLRB Rings In the New Year by Signaling It Will Continue Its Pro-Union Rulings.”

Following is an excerpt:

In yet another decision that exhibits the current Board’s overreaching and expansive view of its jurisdiction, the Board recently ruled that nurses who supervise and assign other hospital staff are not statutory supervisors.

A Position Expressly Created to be ...

The National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) recently filed its fourth complaint (since March 2011) against Care Realty and Healthbridge Management, the owner and operator of several Connecticut nursing homes.  The Board’s three prior complaints against Care Realty had included allegations of unilateral changes to work hours, benefit eligibility requirements, holiday and vacation benefits, subcontracting of employees, and allegedly unlawful solicitation policies.  The Board’s latest complaint, filed on February 29, 2012, alleges that the nursing home ...

Acquirers of businesses often prefer to buy the assets of a seller, rather than the stock, to avoid assuming the seller’s liabilities.  Indeed,  the general common law rule is that a purchaser of assets does not assume the seller’s liabilities absent an agreement to do so, fraud or other inequitable conduct between the parties, whereas in a stock sale, the buyer steps into the shoes of the seller and assumes all assets and liabilities of the seller.  In an asset sale, the seller, in turn, would typically use part or all of the sale proceeds to pay its liabilities.  During the pre-sale due ...

On August 30, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a highly controversial and very pro-labor rule requiring employers to post notices informing employees of their right to join or form a union.  The rule was originally supposed to go into effect in November, but was subsequently pushed back to January 31, 2012 as a result of mounting criticism against the rule.  Indeed, several lawsuits have been filed by business groups alleging that the Board overstepped its discretion in imposing the rule on employers.  A federal judge in one of the cases recently ...