Current and former nurses at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wis., will receive a settlement of $3.5 million in a class action lawsuit claiming the hospital did not pay the nurses for meal breaks spent on-call, according to a Wisconsin State Journal report.
The lawsuit was filed in 2011 by a former nurse who alleged that having to be within earshot of the hospital's public announcement system and ready to respond to emergencies during her lunch prevented her from taking a true break, according to the report.
A hospital spokesman said although the hospital believes it paid nurses properly and in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, the hospital settled because of mounting court costs, according to the report.
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