NY Home Care Provider Files Unfair Labor Practice Charges & Motion to Intervene Challenging SEIU’s Push to Unionize 190,000 Providers
Motion: NY provider must be allowed to challenge claim that in-home personal care providers selected by Medicaid recipients can be unionized by SEIU
Buffalo, NY (October 14, 2026) – Elena Rizzo, a home care provider who cares for her fiancé under New York’s Medicaid-funded Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), has just filed unfair labor practice charges and a motion to intervene with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Both actions are related to a case filed by 1199 Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers East (SEIU), seeking to unionize an estimated 190,000 personal assistants who care for people with disabilities, often family members, through CDPAP.
Rizzo, who would be subjected to unwanted unionization under an SEIU petition filed with NLRB Region 3 in Buffalo on September 22, filed the charges and motion to intervene with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The federal unfair labor practice charges were filed against SEIU and Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL), which SEIU erroneously claims in its petition is the employer of Rizzo and nearly 200,000 other providers in the program. The charges allege that PPL gave unlawful assistance to SEIU with soliciting and obtaining support for its unionization petition and that SEIU requested and accepted that assistance. According to news reports, SEIU has “been working closely with the PPL for years” and “worked to ensure the success of the company’s takeover of the home care program.”
Rizzo’s Foundation staff attorneys also filed a Motion to Intervene in the SEIU’s unionization petition, asking NLRB Region 3 to allow her to participate in the case in order to raise multiple issues regarding the legality of SEIU officials’ effort to impose unionization on her and every other personal assistant providing care through the Medicaid-funded CDPAP.
Among other issues, the motion argues she must be allowed to challenge SEIU’s claims that PPL is the employer of providers like Rizzo. The motion notes that home care providers are actually employed by the hundreds of thousands of individual CDPAP participants who hire them to work in their homes, and that PPL merely assists these participants with payroll processing, record keeping, and regulatory compliance issues.
The motion notes intervention is especially necessary because SEIU and PPL are actually working together, pursuant to an organizing agreement under which PPL assists SEIU in obtaining monopoly union “representation” over all personal assistants, after SEIU helped make PPL the sole fiscal intermediary of all CDPAP participants. With SEIU and PPL acting in tandem against the interests of care providers, it is vital that the NLRB allow the purported “employees” in the case to fully participate and defend their legal rights.
Controversial NY Medicaid Home Care Contract Tied to Secret SEIU Deal, Federal Fraud Lawsuit
Rizzo’s unfair labor practice charges and motion to intervene follow a motion filed last month by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation asking the NLRB to pause the case to allow for amicus briefs and to consult with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
That motion similarly pointed out that the Region won’t get complete briefing from the current parties on the important issues the case implicates, because “SEIU and PPL are not adverse to one another” due to their organizing agreement. The motion also noted consultation with federal agencies is needed because the U.S. Department of Justice has a pending lawsuit alleging PPL committed fraud to win its contract as the program’s sole fiscal intermediary in New York, and because certifying a union over every provider in a state Medicaid program could conflict with federal Medicaid law.
New York is one of 24 states that lack a Right to Work law to ensure union affiliation and financial support are strictly voluntary. As a result, if SEIU officials’ NLRB petition is successful, all CDPAP home care providers in New York State would be expelled from the program unless they hand over a portion of the money they receive from Medicaid to SEIU officials.
“We fully support Ms. Rizzo and other personal care providers as they move to challenge the SEIU’s outrageous power grab designed to siphon union dues from Medicaid funds that are supposed to be used to provide care for those in need,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Whether it’s the allegations of fraud in how PPL obtained its state-granted monopoly, unlawful assistance by PPL to support SEIU’s organizing campaign, or ludicrous claims that a payroll processor ‘employs’ hundreds of thousands of individuals required to use it to obtain payments from Medicaid — every aspect of this scheme is rotten.
“When the union and the company it claims is the ‘employer’ are working hand in glove, the NLRB must allow caregivers like Elena Rizzo to participate in the case to defend their own rights,” added Mix. “Many of these providers are caring for their own parents, children, or spouses, and they should never be forced to pay union officials for the privilege of doing so.”
Foundation Notice Offers Free Legal Aid to New York In-Home Medicaid Caregivers Targeted for Forced Unionization by SEIU
Notice: If SEIU gains monopoly control, CDPAP caregivers would be required to pay union dues and comply with other union mandates, just to care for family members
Albany, NY (September 30, 2026) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice to roughly 190,000 personal assistants who care for people with disabilities through New York’s Medicaid-funded Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP).
The Foundation’s legal notice informs CDPAP personal assistants of their legal rights, which include the right to challenge an effort by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials to impose unionization on every assistant currently providing care, often to family members, through the program. The notice encourages caregivers to reach out to the Foundation for additional information about their legal rights and for free legal assistance.
“If certified, SEIU would become the exclusive representative of all personal assistants, irrespective of whether they support the union,” the notice reads. “SEIU would also gain the authority to enter into an agreement requiring that everyone must pay dues or fees to SEIU to act as a personal assistant. If this comes to pass, many personal assistants will have no choice but to give part of their wages to SEIU to continue to provide home-based care, often to their own loved ones.”
The full notice is available here: https://www.nrtw.org/NYCare/
Controversial NY Medicaid Home Care Contract Tied to Secret SEIU Deal, Federal Fraud Lawsuit
On September 22, SEIU officials filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to gain monopoly control over all caregivers, many of whom provide in-home care for family members. SEIU’s scheme is premised on a secret agreement between SEIU and Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL), under which PPL assists SEIU to obtain a monopoly union “representation” over all personal assistants, after SEIU helped make PPL the sole fiscal intermediary of all CDPAP participants.
The Foundation’s special legal notice highlights that the caregivers, who are often family members or friends of the people they serve, are actually employed by the hundreds of thousands of individual CDPAP participants with disabilities who hire them to work in their homes.
Because of this and the myriad of other legal issues raised by SEIU’s unionization push, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have already filed a motion with the NLRB requesting that it pause the proceedings to allow for amicus briefs, and also so the NLRB can consult with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice (DOJ).
In June, DOJ filed a federal lawsuit against PPL, the New York State Department of Health, and the state’s Medicaid director, alleging fraud. In announcing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said, “New York’s backroom deal with PPL has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and cast countless Medicaid patients to the curb.” The announcement also alleged PPL won the contract through “a sham bid process… resulting in a fraud scheme that remains unchecked.”
The Foundation has a long history of defending home care providers from forced unionism. In the Foundation-won 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case Harris v. Quinn, Illinois home care personal assistants, including Pamela Harris, successfully challenged a scheme that forced providers caring for family members with disabilities through Medicaid to pay fees to SEIU officials.
“Personal assistants who care for New Yorkers with disabilities, often their own family members, should not have to hand over part of their wages to SEIU union bosses just to keep providing that care,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. “This backroom arrangement between SEIU and Public Partnerships is a naked grab for power and dues money at the expense of some of the state’s most vulnerable residents and those who care for them.
“Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to provide free legal aid to any personal assistant who wants to oppose SEIU’s petition and protect their right to refuse union affiliation,” added Mix.
National Right to Work Foundation Asks NLRB to Halt SEIU Scheme to Impose Union on 190,000 New York In-Home Medicaid Caregivers
Motion: Briefing needed as SEIU and PPL work together to impose unionization; PPL facing DOJ fraud lawsuit and isn’t actually caregivers’ ‘employer’
Washington, DC (September 28, 2026) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a motion at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asking the agency to stay a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) petition seeking to unionize roughly 190,000 personal assistants who care for people with disabilities through New York’s Medicaid-funded Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program.
The Foundation’s motion, filed in Public Partnerships, LLC (NLRB Case No. 03-RC-395461), asks NLRB Region 3 to invite amicus briefs from the Foundation and other interested parties, to consult with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, and to halt the proceedings until after that briefing and consultation are complete.
The motion argues that Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL), which 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East names as the employer in its petition filed on September 22, is “little more than a payroll processor” for the program. The caregivers, who are often family members or friends of the people they serve, are actually employed by the hundreds of thousands of individual participants with disabilities who hire them to work in their homes. Because of this, the filing notes, the single statewide unit proposed by SEIU is legally inappropriate and “unworkable.”
Motion: NLRB Must Not Rubber-Stamp Collusive Unionization Scheme
The motion observes that the Region won’t get complete briefing on these important issues from the parties because “SEIU and PPL are not adverse to one another, but are working together pursuant to an organizing agreement.” Consultation with federal agencies is also needed, the motion argues, because the U.S. Department of Justice has a pending lawsuit alleging PPL committed fraud to win its contract as the program’s sole fiscal intermediary in New York, and because certifying a union over every provider in a state Medicaid program could conflict with federal Medicaid law.
The motion notes that, especially in light of SEIU officials and the ostensible “employer” PPL working hand in hand to unionize providers, the NLRB must not act as a rubber stamp for the scheme:
“The Region cannot simply accept the parties’ proposals, but must fulfill its statutory duty to make an independent determination as to whether PPL is actually an employer of these personal assistants (it is not) and whether the petitioned-for unit is appropriate (it is not). SEIU and PPL ask the Region to expend considerable resources conducting a mail ballot election of 190,000 individuals.”
Foundation staff attorneys have long defended homecare providers against forced unionism, including winning a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn, which held that states cannot force homecare providers to pay union fees.
“Ever since losing Harris v. Quinn at the Supreme Court, SEIU bosses have tried one scheme after another to force Medicaid providers to pay union dues just to care for their own family members in their homes,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “SEIU’s NLRB filing is the latest attempt to siphon mandatory dues out of taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs, and, according to DOJ’s lawsuit, this dubious arrangement is the result of PPL acquiring the contract through a sham bid process rigged by New York State officials.
“The NLRB has a duty to take its time and closely examine the legal implications of this unprecedented scheme to herd 190,000 caregivers into paying forced dues to politically connected SEIU union bosses,” added Mix.
