Thousand Oaks Hospital Settles Suit Over Pay

A Thousand Oaks hospital has agreed to pay $4.75 million to settle a class action lawsuit accusing it of miscalculating overtime and not compensating hourly workers for missed rest periods and lunch breaks.

The settlement by Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center will result in payments ranging from $100 to more than $25,000 to 1,116 current and former employees who worked there from October 1999 through July 2004.

The suit was originally filed in October 2003 by four respiratory therapists who complained about the hospital’s method for paying overtime to employees -- other than registered nurses -- who regularly worked 12-hour shifts.

The case was expanded to cover all affected hourly workers, contending that limited staffing often forced workers to forgo rest and meal breaks.

State regulations require an employer to provide workers with two paid 10-minute rest periods and an unpaid 30-minute meal break during an eight-hour shift.

Failure to provide the breaks entitles a worker to an hour of pay for each missed break, up to two hours a day, according to a spokesman for the California Department of Industrial Relations.

Della Bahan, the Pasadena attorney who negotiated the settlement on behalf of Los Robles’ employees, said about 98% of workers covered by the suit were contacted regarding a settlement, but only those who responded, or 42%, will share in the payout.

The amount each gets will be based on length of employment at the hospital and the employee’s level of pay, Bahan said, adding that checks will be sent within the next eight weeks.

“We’re very happy with the settlement,” she said.

Kris Carraway-Bowman, Los Robles’ vice president of marketing, declined to comment because hospital policy does not allow employees to publicly discuss legal matters.

Bahan said a major issue was Los Robles’ “factored rate” of pay, in which those regularly scheduled to work more than eight hours a day received time and a half pay for the overtime, but at a lower hourly rate in an effort to keep overall costs down. She alleged that the longer employees worked, the less they earned.

“We believe the situation has improved dramatically since the lawsuit was filed,” Bahan said, adding that Los Robles discontinued its factored payment method in July.

Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the California Department of Industrial Relations, said the state labor commissioner’s office is in the process of altering regulations so employers would not be in violation if workers received meal breaks within six hours of starting a shift rather than five, as currently required.

Also, a worker could agree in writing to skip a meal break in exchange for leaving work early.

Los Robles is not the only California employer to be hit with such a lawsuit. Last week, it was announced that Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage lender, agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it failed to pay overtime to 400 employees at its Southern California call centers.

In January, State Farm Insurance Cos. agreed to pay $135 million to 2,600 California claims adjusters who complained that they were denied overtime.

Other companies operating in the state that recently have faced workers’ wage-related lawsuits include Farmers Insurance Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., RadioShack Corp., Rite Aid Corp., Starbucks Corp., Taco Bell Corp. and United Parcel Service of America Inc.