As it faces a growing number of lawsuits from its nurses, Valley Children’s Hospital is proposing to pay its healthcare workforce around $50 each in a settlement over a class action lawsuit over alleged violations of labor law.
But some employees could be missing out on tens of thousands of dollars in claims from the hospital over a dispute on unpaid wages if the settlement is ultimately approved.
The backstory: Valley Children’s nurse Bonnie Ferreria filed a class action lawsuit against the hospital in June in the Madera County Superior Court to receive all minimum and overtime wages due to her.
- The lawsuit claims that Valley Children’s has historically paid between $6 to $8 per hour for on-call shifts, even though minimum wage in California has been over $8 per hour for the last decade.
- Affected employees are owed nearly $5 million in total, according to the lawsuit.
Driving the news: In late August, Ferreria received a notice of a preliminary settlement in another class action lawsuit that was filed against Valley Children’s, which had previously been unreported.
- That case – Briana Westfall and Gloria Garcia v. Valley Children’s Hospital – had its settlement proposed on June 18, just 11 days after the Ferreria complaint was filed. The Westfall case was initially filed in October 2022 and claimed Valley Children’s failed to pay employees for overtime and did not provide meal and rest breaks.
- According to the proposed settlement, Valley Children’s would pay $400,000 to settle all wage claims.
- Ferreria was told in the notice that she would receive $54.58 as part of the deal.
- The settlement also would release the hospital from all claims from employees regarding their wages and work.
- Ferreria is part of the unnamed class in the Westfall case.
The big picture: Last week, Ferreria filed a motion in the Westfall case asking the court to allow intervention, meaning she could file a complaint in opposition to the proposed settlement.
- Ferreria claims the proposed settlement is unfair and would cover issues, such as her on-call claims, that were not examined throughout the process of the Westfall case.
- She estimates that the amount she is owed is at least $27,832 from her claim, more than 500 times what she would receive under the settlement offered by Valley Children’s.
- While the Westfall settlement does not specifically mention claims regarding “on-call” or “standby” issues, it has a clause agreeing to the “release of all claims arising out of their employment with” the hospital.
- Ferreria’s attorney Brian Whelan argued in a declaration he submitted to the court that the proposed settlement is broad and sweeps in Ferreria’s on-call claims, meaning she would be barred from moving forward with her lawsuit and only receive a little over $50.
Go deeper: Further, Whelan argued that the hospital tried to keep him from seeing the settlement before it could be approved in court and block out Ferreria’s lawsuit.
- Whelan said that he first learned of the Westfall case when Ferreria received the settlement notice and never was told anything about the lawsuit from Valley Children’s despite the fact that the settlement would affect his client’s lawsuit.
- Whelan also provided an email he sent to an attorney for Valley Children’s asking why the hospital did not report the proposed settlement to him, the lawyer claimed attorney-client privilege.
What we’re watching: The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on Ferreria’s request on Sep. 26.
- For affected employees to preserve their ability to participate in Ferreria’s suit, they must file objections to the proposed Westfall settlement by Sept. 30.
- When reached for comment, Whelan’s office said it was handling objections for any and all on-call employees hoping to preserve their compensation rights – noting that it had already shepherded more than a dozen objections over the past week.
