CLARKSBURG — A woman is suing West Virginia University Medical Corporation alleging they violated the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Tammy Ware claims WVU Medical uses Kronos for its timekeeping and payroll system and like many companies across the country, WVU Medical's timekeeping and payroll systems were affected by the Kronos ransomware hack in December 2021, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Ware claims the hack led to problems in timekeeping and payroll throughout WVU Medical's organization and the defendant was unable to track its employees' hours through the Kronos system for purposes of calculating pay, overtime and the proper overtime rate.
"WVU Medical implemented a system to address the Kronos hack, whereby it instructed its employees to record their hours manually to allow it to issue a pay correction at a later date," the complaint states. "Although WVU instructed plaintiff and the putative class members to record their actual hours worked, WVU Medical chose not to use those records and instead implemented a pay policy whereby its employees were paid based on the amount of pay they received for the preceding pay period ending on December 3, 2021."
The method implemented by WVU Medical to address the Kronos hack caused the plaintiff and other class members to have performed work for which they were not compensated and further created a miscalculation of their regular rates of pay for purposes of calculating their overtime compensation each workweek, according to the suit.
Ware claims the defendant did not pay her or the class members for all their hours worked, which violated the FLSA and the WPCA.
Ware is seeking compensatory damages. She is represented by Kirk Auvil and Walt Auvil of The Employment Law Center in Parkersburg; and Clif Alexander and Austin W. Anderson of Anderson Alexander in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The defendant sought to have the case dismissed, however, District Judge Thomas Kleeh denied the motion to dismiss, according to a November court document.
Kleeh also granted a motion to stay on Dec. 22 until Jan. 23, 2023.
"The Joint Motion to Stay the case and Stipulation Regarding Tolling of the Statute of Limitations is GRANTED and this matter is stayed until January 23, 2023," Kleeh wrote. "This case is stayed until January 23, 2023, and all current deadlines, including the deadline to file the Rule 26(f) Report, are hereby stayed, to resume once the stay has ended."
The statute of limitations is tolled for the FLSA claims asserted in this action only from December 8, 2022, until January 23, 2023, for all persons who may later opt-in as a putative class or collective member in this action alone.
"Should the stay be lifted prior to January 23, 2023, the tolling of the statute of limitations will resume at the same time the stay is lifted," Kleeh ordered.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number: 1:22-cv-00054