Lawsuit alleges hospital system uses unfair timekeeping policy

A new class action lawsuit against Valley Health Systems alleges that its timekeeping policy violates wage and overtime laws for its hourly workers.

Taylor Stubbins, a former nurse at Spring Valley Medical Center, claims in the lawsuit that nonexempt hourly employees are denied appropriate pay levels because of a timekeeping policy that rounds to the nearest quarter hour.

Josh Buck, Stubbins’ lead attorney, said the timekeeping policy is fairly common, despite modernizations in workplace technology that record a worker’s time clocked in down to the second. This policy comes from old-fashioned clocking and is legal if it is neutral to the worker, he said.

The health system’s rounding policy is based on the minute a worker clocked in, according to the complaint filed Sept. 10 in U.S. District Court in Nevada against the hospital and its parent health system. For example, if a worker clocked in at 7:52 a.m. for an 8-hour shift, they would round up to 7:45 a.m. But a minute later, it would round up to the next hour.

“Taylor Stubbins (his time records) should be erased (over time),” said Buck, a partner at law firm Thierman Buck. “What you find in the real world, along with a rounding policy, employers also have a strict late policy. It is extremely unlikely that they will clock in after their shift. If they do, they will be penalized for delay.

Buck said the case is in its early stages and motions seeking members of the group have recently been filed. He estimates there are 3,000 potential members among the health system’s six hospitals.

Representatives for the hospital and hospital system denied the allegations in a statement released Monday.

“Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center strongly denies any wrongdoing or violation of the law and intends to vigorously defend this matter,” attorney Wendy Krincek, a Littler Mendelson PC shareholder, said in an email. . “We are confident that these allegations will be found to be unfounded. »

The complaint also questions the employer’s policy regarding mobile electronic devices. It says Stubbins and other similarly situated employees are given a mobile device with apps related to patient documentation, used for care tracking and workflow. He said a policy change required workers to monitor the device throughout their shift, including meal and rest breaks.

“Defendants required all of its employees to clock in their meal periods during their workday,” according to the complaint. “Because Plaintiff and all other similarly situated employees were required to carry the Cerner mobile device provided by their employer during their meal periods, Plaintiff and all other similarly situated employees never been completely relieved of their duties.”

A similar claim against a health care provider in Washington resulted in a $229 million judgment in favor of workers in April 2024. Providence Health & Services must pay unpaid wages and damages to more than 33,000 employees schedules for unpaid salaries related to old roundings and quarterly meals. break the policies.

Contact McKenna Ross at [email protected]. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.