Hospital Wage and Hour Class Certification Defeated in Published Decision

Earlier this year, a California Court of Appeal issued a victory to a hospital defendant in a wage and hour class action that was originally filed in 2011. In Lampe v. Queen of the Valley Medical Center, the trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion for class certification on various claims including meal and rest periods, regular rate calculation and overtime and paystub compliance. The trial court concluded that individualized issues predominated, and the claims could not be proven efficiently as a class. In a recent decision, the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling.  While the decision was not originally designated for publication, the defendant, along with CHA, petitioned the court to publish the decision. The Court of Appeal promptly did so, and the decision is available online.

This decision is extremely helpful for hospitals both in litigation as well as operationally because it provides insight into the policies and procedures the hospital had -- and did not have -- that supported defeat of class certification. Specifically, with respect to the overtime claim, plaintiffs alleged alternative work schedule employees who were asked to leave work between the eighth and 12th hours of their shift were not paid overtime wages (“short shift premium”) in accordance with Labor Code 511. In opposition to the motion for class certification, the hospital submitted evidence that Lampe signed an agreement that provided for the short-shift premium; the hospital’s alternative work schedule policy also referred to the short-shift premium; and other employees were aware they were entitled to such a premium. The hospital also submitted evidence that it paid the short-shift premium under the overtime pay code and did not have a separate code. Therefore, it would have to review individual timecard edit sheets to determine when the short-shift premium was paid.