An organization that represents non-profit nursing homes in New York filed a legal challenge Monday to state laws that set minimum staffing requirements for the facilities, arguing the enforcement is arbitrary and worker shortage problems are making compliance too difficult. 

The legal challenge to the staffing measures from the group LeadingAge New York require minimum nursing staffing levels in the homes as well as having 70% of revenue be spent on direct care.

Fines of up to $2,000 a day and revenue seizure are among the penalties for facilities that are not in compliance. The measures enacted during the pandemic were meant to ensure residents received the best possible care and staffing after COVID-19 tore through many nursing homes and long-term care facilities, leading to the deaths of thousands of people. 

“The combination of poor policies, lack of funding, and a workforce that is in short-supply have resulted in a perfect storm of circumstances that leaves us with no other remedy than to seek the intercession of the courts,” said James Clyne, Jr., the president and CEO of LeadingAge New York. 

The suit argues the laws place a one-size-fits-all requirement for nursing homes large and small, while also placing an arbitrary requirement on the facilities. 

At the same time, there has been a health care worker shortage in the state, made worse by pandemic-related fatigue as well as requirements that those workers receive the COVID vaccine. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul has pledged to grow the health care workforce in the state over the next five years.