Arbitrator upholds mandatory employee COVID testing

In a recent unreported labour arbitration award, Caressant Care Nursing & Retirement Homes and Christian Labour Association of Canada, the arbitrator, Dana Randall, upheld the decision that the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 testing policy was a reasonable exercise of management rights.

The case concerns an employer, a retirement home located in Woodstock, Ontario, which provides rental accommodation with care and services to residents who can live independently in a residence while receiving support. The home is provincially regulated by the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 and employs staff to provide laundry services to residents of an adjacent nursing home.

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California Appeals Court Rules on Nursing Home Arbitration Agreement

Many nursing homes ask residents or their agents to sign arbitration agreements. These agreements state that any disputes between the resident and the nursing home must be handled through the arbitration process. Nursing homes use these types of agreements because arbitration generally favors the companies instead of the plaintiffs, and the homes can avoid the publicity of a trial when arbitration is compelled. However, as the case of Lopez v. Bartlett Care Center, LLC, Cal. Ct. App. No. G056427 shows, some arbitration agreements are unenforceable and may be thrown out by the court, leaving the parties to litigate through the court process.

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Mandatory COVID-19 Testing Policy Deemed Reasonable in Retirement Home

In a recent unreported labour arbitration award, Caressant Care Nursing & Retirement Homes and Christian Labour Association of Canada, Arbitrator Dana Randall confirmed that the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 testing policy was a reasonable exercise of management rights.

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Can Maryland Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements Be Assigned?

As arbitration agreements have become routine in many nursing facilities, questions may arise after ownership of the facility has been changed. Like other agreements, Maryland nursing home arbitration agreements can generally be assigned. An assignment of an agreement allows the assignee to “stand in the shoes” of the original party to the contract by granting all the rights the assignor previously had under the agreement.

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