According to the Beckers Hospital Review, about 16,000 nurses in the state of Washington have filed lawsuits against four hospitals that don’t treat their employees with the respect that they need to. The lawsuits were filed through the Washington State Nurses Association. According to the paperwork, the hospitals would not provide nurses who worked there with adequate rest and meal breaks. They would often be pushed to continue working when they were fatigued and hungry, which resulted in less-than-satisfactory medical care for many patients in the hospital.
The lawsuit against Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Washington claims that the hospital does not pay its registered nurses the wages required by the Minimum Wage Act. According to the Act, nurses should be compensated for overtime when they are told to skip a break during their work hours. The nurses say that they were never given extra money for this sacrifice. The lawsuit seeks for reimbursement for all nurses who were affected. As well, the nurses at the hospital ask that the Good Samaritan Hospital make changes from here on out.
The Tacoma General Hospital is also facing a lawsuit because nurses complaining that they are not paid required wages when they are forced to miss their breaks. They are also under litigation because they do not record missed breaks. Because of this, the nurses have had no way to prove that they were being taken advantage of financially. Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington is also under litigation because the hospital is not paying its registered nurses during breaks are overtime. Places of employment that do not keep detailed records can often be sued if they abuse the workers. Talk to an employment lawyer if you have been unfairly denied payment for your overtime!
