Former nursing home owner who engaged in unfair labor practices goes to jail
by 1199NE
Helen Sieger, the former owner and operator of Kingsbridge Heights Nursing Home in the Bronx–where two hundred 1199SEIU members held a strike for seven months in 2008–is facing grand larceny charges for allegedly bribing a hospital official in exchange for referrals to her nursing home.
Last week, Sieger skipped bail and was arrested in a Miami Beach hotel where she had spent thousands of dollars under an assumed name. She was supposed to be arraigned in a Bronx courtroom on bail-jumping charges, but was taken to a medical facility at Rikers Island. She said she was not well enough to go to the hearing, which has been rescheduled for October. 19.
Helen Sieger was the first person in New York to be arrested under a law making it a felony not to provide employees with workers compensation insurance. In 2008, 1199SEIU members at Kingsbridge Heights went on strike after Sieger stopped making payments into the 1199SEIU benefit fund and their health insurance was terminated. Overall, Sieger failed to have workers’ compensation coverage for over one year (from May 31, 2007 to June 26, 2008).
They returned to work 7 months later, after U.S. District Judge Denise Cotes said that Ms. Sieger engaged in “serious and pervasive unfair labor practices,” and ordered the employees back to work under the terms of their old contract. Also, the state Department of Health revoked her license to operate the nursing home and the state placed the nursing home into receivership.
“This was a nursing home operator who held our members in contempt, thought they were stupid,” said Mike Rifkin, executive vice president and nursing home division director of 1199. “At the end of the day, our members have kept their dignity. They’re working and she’s in jail.”
Originally published on 1199SEIU’s website here.
Former nursing home owner who engaged in unfair labor practices goes to jail
originally appeared on
SEIU.org
on Thursday, Sep 2, 2010.
Posted:
September 2nd, 2010 |
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