CHARLESTON – A potential class action lawsuit accuses Charleston Area Medical Center of not paying employees for all hours worked because it automatically deducts 30 minutes a day for meal breaks.
William Strickland is the named plaintiff in the complaint filed October 11 in federal court against CAMC.
According to the complaint, the potential class members did not actually receive bona fide meal breaks.
“Instead, CAMC required Strickland and the putative class members to remain on-duty and perform compensable work throughout their shifts, and CAMC continuously subjected them to work interruptions during their unpaid ‘meal breaks,’” the complaint states, saying the policy violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by depriving Strickland and others of overtime wages for all overtime hours worked.
Strickland worked at CAMC as a nursing assistant from February 2022 to November 2022. He was paid on an hourly basis, but he says the 30-minute meal break was automatically deducted regardless of whether he received a full uninterrupted break.
He says he and other employees were required to carry an ASCOM phone so CAMC could contact him at any time. He says he and other employees complained to management and supervisors about this practice, but nothing was done.
Strickland and the potential class seek all unpaid wages, liquidated damages and other relief as well as attorney fees, court costs, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief. The plaintiffs also seek an order designating the lawsuit as a class action and another order finding CAMC liable for unpaid overtime wages due to Strickland and the potential class.
Strickland is being represented by Walt Auvil and Kirk R. Auvil of The Employment Law Center in Parkersburg, Michael Josephson and Andrew Dunlap of Josephson Dunlap in Houston, Richard “Rex” Burch of Bruckner Burch in Houston and Austin Anderson of Anderson Alexander in Corpus Christi, Texas.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 2:23-cv-676
