Hospital Workers Fight to Certify California Wage Lawsuit

Over 1,000 California nurses and patient care employees have motioned to revive their denied certification bid in a putative proposed meal and rest break class action lawsuit claiming various violations of the wage and hour laws of the California Labor Code.

In 2013, a California judge denied a California wage certification bid by a putative class of 1,053 health care workers at Los Angeles based Aurora Behavioral Healthcare affiliates.  The California wage class members claim they were denied meal and rest breaks, alleging that their employer systematically failed to pay overtime compensation, and routinely required employees to work off the clock in order to complete mandatory paperwork.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White ruled there was too much factual variation between the workers at Aurora Las Encinas LLC in Pasadena, Calif., and Aurora Charter Oak-Los Angeles LLC in Covina, Calif., for the California wage case to proceed as a class action. The hospitals are affiliates of Aurora Behavioral Healthcare, which owns several psychiatric hospitals in Southern California.

Now, the plaintiffs are petitioning the court to review their California wage certification bid, presenting oral arguments before three appellate court judges, contending that conducting “500 mini-trials” that essentially have the same witnesses, testimony and facts would be unfair and inefficient for the court.

The plaintiffs further claim that statistical evidence regarding violations pertaining to California law on breaks was ignored in the first certification attempt. The plaintiffs claim to have demonstrated workers’ break were interrupted or missed altogether, challenging that the hospital’s meal and break policy requiring employees to find another employee to cover them for meal and rest breaks caused most to skip breaks did in fact violate CA labor laws.

Meal and Rest Breaks

Under California labor laws, nurses and healthcare workers are entitled to meal and rest breaks, like all other employees. That is, they are entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours or major fraction thereof of work. In addition, they are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid meal break for every five hours worked.

One exception for nurses or healthcare workers is that if an employee works more than an eight-hour shift, they may waive their right to a second meal break if a written agreement exists that provides that one of the meal breaks is waived and the written agreement may be revoked by the employee with one day’s notice.

This frequently comes up for nurses who work 12 hour shifts. If they have a written agreement, then they do not have to take their second meal break.

People who believe that they have been the victim of California wage violations such as unpaid overtime, unpaid wages and other FLSA violations may want to consider their legal options.

The California Wage Lawsuit is Valerie Alberts et al. v. Aurora Behavioral Health Care et al., Case No. B248748, in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District.

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