Care facility goes to court to demand fair trial, rein in agency overreach

Washington, DC; April 1, 2026: A nursing and rehabilitation facility filed a motion for reconsideration today, challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s decision to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate unfair labor practice claims — all in-house, without a neutral judge or jury. Rosewood Care, LLC, alleges that the NLRB’s process violates its constitutional right to a fair trial and that the agency is attempting to enforce penalties Congress never authorized.

“The NLRB is acting as prosecutor, judge, and jury all at once. That’s not how justice works in this country,” said Oliver J. Dunford, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Americans deserve to have disputes decided in a real court of law. When an agency starts inventing penalties that Congress never authorized, it has crossed the line from enforcing the law to writing it — and that power belongs to the people’s elected representatives, not unelected bureaucrats.”

The NLRB imposed a series of financial penalties on Rosewood Care after union organizers complained that Rosewood allowed union representatives to meet with employees only in the employee breakroom. Rosewood contends that its property rights were invaded. The Constitution requires disputes over private rights to be heard before independent judges and juries — not inside the agency bringing the charges — and it gives Congress the sole power to decide what penalties the law allows.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Rosewood Care free of charge. The case is Rosewood Care, LLC d/b/a/ Rosewood Rehabilitation and Nursing and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.