Knoxville, Tennessee — A federal judge has agreed to move a high-stakes labor trafficking lawsuit against one of the nation’s largest nursing home chains to North Carolina, keeping alive claims that foreign healthcare workers were lured to the United States with false promises and then trapped in punitive contracts that amounted to forced labor.
The case centers on three workers — primarily from the Philippines and Nigeria — who filed a class action lawsuit in January 2025 against PruittHealth, Inc., a major Southern nursing home operator, and Infinity Care Partners (ICP), a staffing recruiter that supplies foreign healthcare aides to facilities across the country. A Tennessee District Court judge signed off on the transfer last week, moving the case to North Carolina, where two of the three plaintiffs once worked.
The Allegations: $40,000 to Quit
The lawsuit describes what it calls a deliberate scheme to exploit workers who came to the U.S. hoping for stable careers in healthcare. According to the complaint, ICP recruited nurses and nursing assistants abroad with promises of fair pay and manageable hours — only for workers to find the conditions far harsher than advertised once they arrived.
Worse, those who tried to leave found themselves facing contract clauses demanding up to $40,000 in exit penalties if they walked off the job before completing a mandatory three-year term. Workers were also placed in understaffed facilities, according to the complaint, which not only strained them physically but put their professional licenses at risk.
Plaintiffs say they faced threats of lawsuits, deportation, and financial ruin if they pushed back or tried to find better jobs elsewhere. The lawsuit characterizes the arrangement as “indentured servitude.”
The complaint includes counts under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, federal RICO statutes, and state labor laws, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of a proposed nationwide class.
Defendants Push Back
Infinity Care Partners has contested the characterization of its operations. In court filings, ICP argued that it “did not knowingly perpetrate or benefit from any alleged common undertaking or enterprise” and denied that there was any “pattern of racketeering activity.” PruittHealth has not publicly commented on the transfer.
The move to North Carolina is a procedural step, not a ruling on the merits — but it signals the case is moving forward rather than dying in the courts.
A Wider Industry Problem
The PruittHealth lawsuit isn’t an isolated complaint. The nursing home sector has faced increasing scrutiny over how it recruits and treats foreign-born healthcare workers. Staffing agencies in long-term care have repeatedly come under fire for contracts that impose financial penalties on workers who leave, a practice that critics argue functions as a form of wage bondage.
The issue intersects with a broader workforce crisis in long-term care. As foreign healthcare workers have faced mounting immigration barriers, facilities dependent on internationally recruited staff have grown more vulnerable to the exact dynamics this lawsuit describes.
If this case reaches class action status, it could draw in a large number of similarly situated workers across multiple states — and set a significant legal precedent for how nursing home staffing contracts are written and enforced going forward.
