The Washington State Hospital Association is challenging a newly issued administrative policy from the state Department of Labor and Industries related to meal break compensation.
According to the association — which filed a lawsuit against the department over the policy on July 12 — the policy established in June requires hospitals to pay workers "a penalty of an extra 30 minutes pay when their unpaid meal period is missed, impermissibly interrupted or untimely," in addition to compensation for time worked.
The policy further says this is regardless of the amount of break missed or delayed, according to the association.
Additionally, the policy says hospitals must pay a similar penalty of 10 to 15 minutes of extra pay for rest breaks that are missed, interrupted or do not meet the required time frame, according to the association.
The hospital association argues, among other things, that the new policy exceeds the scope of penalties allowed by Washington law.
"We absolutely agree that workers need and should have breaks and be compensated for the time worked when breaks are missed or interrupted," Cassie Sauer, president and CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association, said in a July 15 news release. "However, the new policies proposed by L&I are a broad overreach in authority and impose significant penalties that will only increase costs for Washington patients and hospitals."
The state labor department shared a statement with Becker's, saying it is aware of the lawsuit but cannot discuss litigation details.
The statement added that the policy "reflects L&I's commitment to protecting workplace rights. State law says these workers are entitled to uninterrupted meal and rest breaks, and the state Legislature gave L&I explicit direction to enforce that for this group of workers.
"Courts have said the remedy for workers who did not get their required meal and rest periods is compensation for their lost breaks, in addition to pay for the extra time they worked. That money goes to the worker for their lost break rights. It's not a penalty and does not go to the state."