Health Workers Overtime Settlement Earns Final Approval from Court

A final approval was granted to a health workers overtime settlement in a class action lawsuit that accused Health Resource Solutions (HRS) of failing to pay overtime to its healthcare workers and of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to Law360, Health Resource Solutions wrongly exempted a group of registered nurses, clinicians, occupational therapists, and other skilled therapists of receiving overtime pay. The Illinois federal judge said of the $900,000 health workers overtime settlement that the deal was “fair, reasonable, adequate, and in the best interests” of the settling class members.

Covered within the $900,000 health workers overtime settlement includes coverage for $7,878 in settlement administration expenses, $300,000 in attorney’s fees, and $7,500 awarded to the class representative, plaintiff Monique B. Of the deal, only one Class Member opted out while no other Class Member raised any objection, Law360 says. Also, covered in the settlement amount are 70 additional claims that were filed prior to the parties’ cutoff on April 2.

The plaintiff and Class allege that, in violation of the FLSA and the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, HRS wrongly classified their employees who work with patients in their home as exempt from receiving overtime pay. The health workers overtime settlement ends the litigation brought forth by these employees. The hybrid class and collective action brought forth by the class representative, Monique, alleged HRS and Robert M. and Glenn S., co-owners of HRS, of these violations.

According to Law360, complaints brought against HRS included that the company along with the co-owners knew that in fact, employees had not met certain qualifications to be considered exempt employees. To establish that an employee qualifies for the exemption they would have needed to demonstrate that the workers either “performed work that met certain criteria or [were] compensated on a salary or fee basis,” Law360 states.

However, according to the complaint, HRS developed its own payment structure. For example, employees’ office time and staff meetings were paid hourly, while advancement was set for visits’ pay. The complaint also states, however, that employees traveling time, coordination of patient care with other providers, and speaking to patients about scheduling was never covered.

According to Law360, after HRS covers and honors the employees’ settling claims it will be able to keep any settlement money left over. The allegedly misclassified employees included 175 people. Additionally, overtime weeks to which employees had worked but were never compensated reached 10,000 employee weeks.

Both sides failed to respond to requests for comment.

Filing an FLSA Class Action Lawsuit

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 and in Federal, State, and Local governments.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), protects workers against minimum wage and overtime hour violations. Workers who believe they have not been given proper overtime pay or minimum wage have a right to file a lawsuit for violations of federal and state labor laws against their employers for unpaid wages.

Join a Free Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you were forced to work off the clock or without overtime pay within the past 3 years, you have rights – and you don’t have to take on the company alone.

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