Nicole Blissenbach, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry, was named as a defendant in a lawsuit challenging state law.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – A federal judge won’t block a 2024 Minnesota law that nursing-care groups say place the elderly at risk.
Judge Nancy Brasel on Monday dismissed the lawsuit challenging the state Nursing Home Workforce Standards Act, which created a board of nine members to oversee the industry. It made Minnesota the first state with a “centralized nursing home workforce board with binding rulemaking authority,” the lawsuit said.
And that board is designed to adopt employment standards to protect workers on issues like pay and training, with it recently requiring at least $22.50 per hour for certified nursing assistants and higher minimum wages for other positions. LeadingAge Minnesota, Care Providers of Minnesota and Yona Northstar warned in their lawsuit of the costs of compliance.
The court challenge said this new nine-member board violates the industry’s First Amendment rights.
“The court disagrees; Plaintiffs remain free to associate and voice their views of the Board and its actions,” Brasel wrote. And “Plaintiffs’ due process claim fares no better.”
That’s because any measure must be approved by at least five of the board’s member and state agency officials, who make up one-third of the board. Claims of bias similarly failed, as the plaintiffs tried to draw parallels with previous cases on judicial impartiality with the board.
“Proceedings designed to adjudicate disputed facts in a particular case come with higher standards of impartiality,” Brasel wrote. “Regulators pass judgment upon prospective state or nationwide policy for which they have preconceived views; in fact, regulators are often selected because of their views.”
Without a successful appeal, the ruling leaves the nursing-home industry struggling, it says. New money will be spent on extra training requirements, and minimum wages are set to increase in 2027.
For patients, the staff-to-resident ratios have skewed in recent years and some elderly applicants have been denied admission, the plaintiffs claimed in their complaint.
