Hospital Employee Misclassification Can Cost Workers Wages

Worker advocates are investigating allegations of hospital employee misclassification that have allegedly resulted in medical, administrative and support staff being short-changed on their proper wages.

California has some of the most employee-friendly work laws in the country. But they can be confusing, and some hospital workers may not know their rights. An experienced labor law attorney can help you determine if you qualify for a hospital employee misclassification lawsuit, if you were not paid overtime, minimum wage, when you should have been, or if you missed breaks.

Hospital employees who have been subject to any of the following practices may have a legal claim:

• Not paying all overtime wages;
• Rounding time worked;
• Improperly calculating the regular rate of pay, for purposes of paying overtime;
• Not paying at least minimum wages for all hours worked (relating to hours worked off-the-clock);
• Not providing employees with timely, uninterrupted meal and/or rest breaks;
• Not paying employees one hour of pay for each missed meal or rest break;
• Not paying wages in a timely manner during employment and upon termination;
• Failing to pay the costs of mandatory pre-employment physical examinations;
• Failing to reimburse work-related business expenses; and
• Failing to provide written notice of material terms of employment.

Any hospital employees may be able to make valid claim–so you could be eligible for a hospital employee misclassification lawsuit investigation if you are a doctor, a nurse, administrative staff, support staff, or another type of employee.

Overview of California Labor Laws

Overtime: California labor law requires employers to pay their employees an overtime rate of 1.5 times their regular rate of pay, for every hour work over eight hours in a single day or over 40 hours in a single week.

California law also requires employers pay employees this overtime rate for the first eight hours worked on the seventh consecutive day worked in a work week. The law requires that the company double the rate of pay for all hours worked above 12 in any work day, and requires the company to double the rate of pay for all hours worked over eight per day, on the seventh consecutive day worked.

Breaks: Employees not considered exempt from overtime are entitled to a 30-minute, off-duty lunch break if they work more than five hours in a work day. Additionally, they are entitled to a 10 minute break for every four hours worked, and another 30 minute meal break if the employee works more than 10 hours.

The law gives certain protections to workers who were denied their legally mandated breaks. For each day that an employee is not given a meal break and for each rest break missed, the employer must compensate the employee for one hour’s worth of their regular pay.

Hospital Employee Misclassification Lawsuits

One way in which hospitals can get out of paying employees wages that they are due is by misclassifying them as an exempt employee, purportedly disqualifying them from legal protections like minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.

In 2017, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals settled a hospital misclassification class lawsuit for $500,000. An employee had claimed that the company made a practice of misclassifying employees so it could not pay them overtime wages.

She said that she was hired as an independent contractor, but she was reclassified later as an “exempt” employee, and did not receive the overtime pay she was due. She also claimed that Kaiser failed to accurately record the hours that she and other employees worked.

Join a Free California Wage & Hour Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

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

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