Kaiser Faces Woman’s Recent Off-The-Clock Work Class Action Lawsuit

A wage and hour lawsuit filed for unpaid off-the-clock work has been filed in California federal court against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. by a woman on behalf of herself and other workers.

Plaintiff Dionka B. filed the off-the-clock work lawsuit demanding a trial by jury for alleged violations of the FLSA and other wage and hour state laws. The collective class action lawsuit was filed on Aug. 8, 2018.

According to the off-the-clock work lawsuit, Dionka is a resident of Riverside, Calif. She was employed by Kaiser between August 2015 and January 2016. During the time of her employment, she claims, she had a base rate of $15-$16 per hour and typically worked more than 40 hours per week and at an excess of eight hours per day.

During her employment, she says she was responsible for inbound telephone calls from patients in addition to directing members to health plans and membership information and evaluating patients’ needs.

According to the wage and hour lawsuit, Kaiser requires its employees, including Dionka, to work full-time, plus overtime. Despite her workload, the complaint says that Kaiser failed to compensate her and other employees for all work performed including work “’off-the-clock” at the beginning of each shift, during meal periods, and at the end of each shift. Thus, these alleged “illegal compensation practices” resulted in Dionka not being paid for all hours worked, including overtime.

Dionka states she would be first required to start up and log into different software programs, computer programs, and other applications as part of a pre-shift startup routine. The login process would typically take anywhere between 10-15 minutes per day and it was only after she logged in would she be able to clock-in and start getting compensated for her work time.

Consequently, Kaiser allegedly failed to pay Dionka and other employees for pre-shift startup time and login activities. Other allegations against the company include the company’s failure to pay Dionka and other employees for meal periods and also requiring employees to shut down and logout of certain programs and applications after they had already logged-out of the time keeping program, leading to additional unpaid work time.

Overview: FLSA and Wage and Hour Violations

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a U.S. law enacted to protect workers against unfair work and pay practices. According to the Department of Labor (DOL), “[t]he FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector in Federal, State, and Local governments.”

First passed in 1938, the FLSA sets minimum wage and labor laws regarding interstate commerce employment, overtime pay, and child labor limitations. There are several FLSA violations that may be committed by employers that employees should recognize. Some of these violations may include:

• Off-the-clock work
• Failure to provide meal and rest breaks
• Improper deductions from salaried employees
• Failure to pay minimum wage
• Illegal tipping practices
• Improper calculation of the regular rate

The Off-the-Clock Work Lawsuit is Case No. 5:18-cv-01653-JGB-KK, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Eastern Division.

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