NEWINGTON - A New Jersey bankruptcy court ruling imposed controversial new HealthBridge nursing home labor contract revisions, the issue behind an employee strike that began last July, just a month after the 600 union workers were reinstated under the old conditions, but the National Labor Relations Board is fighting back.

       The Board has filed a motion for contempt of court, arguing that since it was the five Connecticut nursing homes--Danbury Health Center, Long Ridge of Stamford Health Center, Newington Health Center, West River Health Care Center of Milford, and Westport Health Care Center--that filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and bankruptcy and not HealthBridge Management itself, the company is not exempt from the restraining order’s mandates, according to New England Health Care Employees Union Communications Director Deborah Chernoff.

       â€�"We’ve been expecting the Labor Board to do this for some time, so we’ll see how HealthBridge responds,” Chernoff said. â€�"It’s not just a question of being fair to the workers--it’s defying a court order.”

       The company might have some fees hanging over its head--$15,000 upfront if the motion goes through, plus additional fines for every day that it fails to comply thereafter.

       â€�"We’re not interested in them paying fines, just them complying with the labor laws,” Chernoff said. â€�"But they’re obviously not very motivated to comply, so this would provide that motivation.”

       In a statement, HealthBridge Spokesman Soren Dayton contended that as a management service that does not own or technically employ any of the workers, the company should not be targeted for contempt of court.

       â€�"It is significant that the NLRB has not filed petitions for contempt against any of the five Centers,” Dayton wrote in the press release. â€�"HealthBridge manages the Centers on their behalf. HealthBridge is not a party to any of the expired union contracts that the District Court ordered to be reinstated, and it is not the employer of any of the Centers’ employees. Since the NLRB is not claiming that the Centers should be held in contempt for exercising their rights under the Bankruptcy Code, it strains imagination for the NLRB to contend that HealthBridge should somehow be held in contempt for the lawful actions of the Centers.”

       Chernoff described the claim as a â€�"legal fiction,” saying that HealthBridge wields at least significant oversight â€�"in terms of setting the basic terms of employment.”

       â€�"They make the management decisions,” Chernoff said. â€�"The contracts at the centers were exactly the same, and they negotiated the contracts together.”

       Although it is unclear at this time as to when the National Labor Relations Board will hear back regarding its bid for contempt of court, Chernoff expects it to be within a â€�"reasonable amount of time.”

       HealthBridge employees that were reinstated March 3 have been working under the conditions that prompted them to walk out last summer--a work week reduced from 40 hours to 37 due to the elimination of paid lunch breaks, a 50 percent cut in sick days, higher health benefit deductibles, and a switch from HealthBridge’s former employee pension plan to a 401K--since a bankruptcy filing in New Jersey granted the nursing homes the right to temporarily impose them. What started as a 15-day extension April 3 became indefinite with a renewal that will last, at the very least, until the next bankruptcy court date, which has yet to be determined.

       The Hartford Courant has reported minimums of $2.3 million in losses at each of five Connecticut nursing homes from which employees went on strike in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 29. Strike preparation, including $12.5 million spent to hire replacement workers coupled with declining revenues at the highlighted homes, contributed to the company’s financial woes, according to The Courant.

       The National Labor Relations Board is currently in the midst of a labor violations court battle with HealthBridge’s on halting of contract negotiations to impose its changes prior to the strike, as well as a lockout of employees at its Milford facility last December. The injunction, which the company contested unsuccessfully in both the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, was granted so that workers could return to the job without having to wait for what is expected to be a lengthy legal process to play out.

       The National Labor Board could not be reached for comment.