Employees to gain ownership of 38-facility chain

Some 3,000 employees of the Miller’s Merry Manor nursing home chain could soon be eligible to own a piece of their employer. Executives at the Warsaw, IN-based provider applied to the federal government last month for permission to shift ownership.

The plan has been 18 months in the making and should kick in sometime over the next three months, according to Patrick Boyle, president and COO of the family-owned company.

Any employee who works 1,000 hours in a year will receive shares in the company. This type of employee-ownership plan is a government-approved trust that serves as a retirement benefit.

All 29 of the company’s nursing homes and nine assisted living facilities are in Indiana. The current management team will remain in place and four children of Merry Manor founders Connie and Wallace Miller will remain on the board of directors, according to reports.