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If you were employed as an hourly health care employee, you may have legal rights to protect.    

Please read the Federal Regulations that require you to be paid for all the time that you work. These same Federal Regulations require that you be completely relieved of your duties during your meal period.

This website is not a court authorized notice.    

Our team of attorneys is currently seeking to recover back wages for hourly employees in the health care industry. Some health care employers have their hourly employees work through part of their meal periods but still do not pay them for their meal periods.

There has been no determination whether your employer did anything wrong. There is no money available now and no guarantee there will be. However, if you:

  • Worked as an hourly employee for a health care institution;
  • Worked for at least part of a meal period; and
  • Were not paid for that meal period;

You may have legal rights to protect and you have a choice to make as to whether you contact our legal team to see if you can participate.

Basic Information

Might I be entitled to back wages?    

You may if you:

  • Worked as an hourly employee for a health care employer at some point in the last three years;
  • Worked for at least part of a meal period; and
  • Were not paid for that meal period.

To find out if our legal team can represent you and ask for back wages for you, you need to contact us.

Are there any deadlines I need to worry about?    

Yes. If you are awarded money under federal law, you will likely be able to collect back wages for the three years immediately prior to the date of filing of your consent to join the lawsuit. Therefore, every day that you wait to contact our legal team means you could be losing some or all of your claim. If you do want to find out what, if anything, you may be owed, you should contact our legal team at once. However, you will not be represented by the law firm until a case is filed, you decide to participate in the case, and your consent form is filed with the court.

What is a collective action and who is involved?    

In a collective (or class) action lawsuit, one or more people called "Class Representatives" sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. The current and former employees who submit their consent forms together are a 'Class' or 'Class Members'. The individuals who sued—and all the Class Members like them—are called the plaintiffs. The company that is sued is called the defendant. Unless each employee's case ends up being tried separately, one Court resolves the issues for everyone in the Class—except for those people who choose not to join the Class.

What would the lawsuit complain about?    

The lawsuit would complain that, among other things, your employer implemented an automatic meal deduction policy under which hourly employees were not paid for their meal periods, even though the employees did some work during those meal periods.

If the lawsuit is filed, the employees will request their unpaid overtime, as well as additional damages allowed by the law and your attorneys' fees.

Has a Court decided who is right?    

No, a Court hasn't decided whether your employer owes anything to you or other employees. In this investigation, a Court has not yet determined whether the employees have similar enough claims that it makes sense to have those claims combined in one case. Further, our legal team has not completed its investigation to determine if it makes sense to file a lawsuit. Therefore there is no money or benefits available now.

In any lawsuit involving these claims, the Court will decide whether people who have opted in may participate in the case as class members. Only people "similarly situated" to the plaintiffs may participate as class members.

Your Rights and Options

I am afraid my employer may take some action against me if I talk to your legal team.    

Your employer will not be told if you contact our legal team unless and until you ask us to act on your behalf in a lawsuit we have filed to ask for your back wages. Further, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against you for participating in a lawsuit to collect Federal overtime wages.

The Lawyers Involved

Do I have a lawyer?    

Not unless you hired a lawyer. The law firm of Thomas & Solomon LLP are lawyers investigating the illegal policies in the industry. They are experienced in handling similar cases against other employers. More information about the law firm, its practices, and its lawyers' experience is available at theemploymentattorneys.com.

Are you my Lawyer?    

No. Thomas & Solomon LLP's representation of you would only start once our investigation has concluded, you decide to participate in a lawsuit our legal team may file, your claims are eligible for inclusion in that lawsuit, and you sign a consent form that is filed in court. You would not be represented by our legal team before that. Once that has occurred, you would be represented by these attorneys only for the claims raised in the complaint that initiates that lawsuit.

How will the lawyers be paid?    

If a lawsuit is filed and the attorneys get money or benefits for the employees, they may ask the Court for fees and expenses. Typically, if a case settles a portion of the settlement is approved by the court as attorney fees. Costs of the lawsuit are also typically paid out of the settlement fund. These fees and costs reduce the amount the plaintiffs recover. In no case would you be asked to spend your own money for attorney fees or costs. If the Court grants the lawyers’ request, the fees and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the Class or paid separately by your employer.

If the Plaintiffs obtain money or benefits as a result of a trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to participate. We do not know how long this will take.

Getting More Information

Are more details available?    

On this website, the lawyers for the employees have put additional information about the case. You can also contact our legal team at:

Hospital Overtime Class Action Lawsuits & Investigations
Thomas & Solomon LLP
693 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
877.272.4066
Contact Us

Attorney Advertising, Advertising Material: Hospital Class Action Lawsuits & Investigations are being handled by Thomas & Solomon LLP. Prior Results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Damage awards in other lawsuits are only identified as an example of the types of settlements obtained and are not a guarantee of whether any recovery may be obtained. If Thomas & Solomon LLP represents you, our representation will be limited to unpaid wage claims or claims arising out of wage and hour law as alleged in the complaint if it is filed. This website should not be construed as legal advice. Attorneys at Thomas & Solomon LLP are licensed to practice in New York State, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania only. Thomas & Solomon is not responsible for the content of external internet sites or images from other sources.

Thomas & Solomon LLP | 693 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607 | 877.272.4066 (tel), 877.272.4088 (fax)