Reading (Pa.) Hospital was ordered by a federal judge to provide documents and information related to compensation for work a lawsuit claims employees did during unpaid meal breaks, according to a Reading Eagle report.
Here are six things to know about the issue.
1. According to the report, Henry Perkin, U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ordered the following:
- The hospital produce by the end of this month documents used for orientation and training related to compensation for missed or interrupted meal breaks
- An analysis and report from the hospital of how often hourly employees missed meal breaks based on a new function of its electronic time clocks that required employees to "attest" to whether they received full breaks during their shifts
- The hospital must produce designees for deposition
2. The order stems from a lawsuit filed by hospital employees Amanda Neifert and Evelyn Santoro in October 2013. According to the report, those employees' cases were dismissed when another employee, Susan Bell, was substituted into the case the following year. Court documents show the case consists of 25 opt-in plaintiffs who worked in different jobs at RH, according to the Reading Eagle.
3. In the complaint, employees allege the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying employees for work they did during their unpaid 30-minute meal breaks, according to the report.
4. The plaintiffs want to be paid for work completed during the meal breaks and other damages under the FLSA.
5. The hospital declined to comment to the Reading Eagle, citing pending litigation.
6. Philadelphia attorney David Cohen, who is representing the employees, said the judge's ruling marks a step along the way in the bigger case, and he has also filed a state court class action lawsuit on similar allegations, according to the Reading Eagle.
"I think the ruling is important because it address one of the issues," he said, according to the report. "We are trying to make sure all of the plaintiffs in the case have their claims decided together and Reading Hospital's strategy and goal is to force them into separate litigations."
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