A California judge recently approved a Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Wage and Hour settlement, which will resolve four class actions alleging a number of minimum wage violations.

The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles wage and hour settlement is in the amount of $27 million, which will be distributed to thousands of workers alleging missing wages, denied rest periods, and will cover an an entire third of the plaintiffs’ attorneys fees.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones had quickly gave her approval to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Wage and Hour settlement, after reviewing the evidence and testimony.

Lead plaintiff Denis Mays  filed legal action in January 2012, who worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital and had opened up the class action who worked as a non exempt employee for the hospital between April 2004 and May 2016.

Before the settlement was reached, Mays’ lawsuit had gone through heavy litigation prior to both parties going into mediation in June 2015.

The $27 million class action Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Wage and Hour settlement will cover 9,546 current and past minimum wage employees who worked during the designated period. Other plaintiffs who filed the other class actions include: Joseph Schmidt, Michelle Falk, Erin Cooper, and Elisabeth McGee.

The court had also approved $9 million to be set aside for the plaintiffs’ legal fees, along with $250,000 for other costs.

Overview of California Minimum Wage Violations

According to the motion for approval, the plaintiffs’ attorneys had worked over 6,300 hours on the class action at rates capped at $800 per hour. In addition, the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Wage and Hour settlement amount is based on a 2.25 multiplier “in light of the quality and quantity of work on this matter by all counsel and plaintiffs.”

The California wage and hour lawsuits alleged the employees had been regularly denied overtime wages, were denied meal periods and rest breaks, and were not promptly paid at the time of termination.

Under California labor laws, all missed rest and meal periods must be compensated on the employee’s next pay check by adding an additional hour of pay per missed break.

Employees who work over 40 hours a week must be compensated with an overtime wage rate, which is 1.5x the hourly pay rate. By denying the employees their minimum wage benefits, the Children’s Hospital had violated California labor laws.

In addition to paying the employees the wages they earned, money from any uncashed checks will be sent to a charity proposed by the parties as approved by the court.

It is estimated that the average payout for employees who worked over eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week will receive $9,076.43, to $2,955 for employees who worked 12 hour shifts and claimed under a “two rate system” that they were paid a lower wage.

While only 22 class members had opted out of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Wage and Hour settlement, none had objected to the deal.

The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles Wage and Hour Class Action Lawsuit is Denise Mays v. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Case No. 477830, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

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