Healthcare Employee Wage and Hour Collective Claims: Growing Litigation Threat

Avoiding, Defending and Settling FLSA Actions Against Hospitals and Providers

Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar with Q&A

Conducted on Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Recorded event now available

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Program Materials

This CLE webinar will provide guidance to healthcare counsel to avoid or minimize wage and hour collective and class action litigation. The panel will examine recent trends in FLSA and state lawsuits against hospitals, offer strategies to avoid being a target of lawsuit, and suggest defense and settlement tactics.

Description

Wage and hour actions targeting the health care industry have exploded recently, exposing hospitals to expensive and time consuming litigation. This trend is expected to continue through 2010. A recent $9 million settlement with a New York hospital illustrates the magnitude of this new threat.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys are aggressively recruiting potential plaintiffs for these actions. Law firms have contacted healthcare employees directly to encourage lawsuits and have set up websites touting significant settlements and highlighting hospitals under investigation for wage and hour violations.

The surge in collective and class claims targeting the healthcare industry requires hospitals to develop innovative defenses against the suits. Counsel for hospitals must also craft effective settlement strategies to minimize the time and expense of litigation.

Listen as our panel of wage and hour attorneys with experience representing healthcare entities discusses recent developments in wage and hour actions against hospitals and other healthcare providers; explains areas most frequently targeted for non-compliance; and provides strategies for avoiding, defending and settling wage and hour collective and class claims.

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Outline

  1. Current trends
    1. Aggressive plaintiffs’ attorneys
    2. Heightened DOL enforcement
    3. Lawsuits filed
    4. Collective actions versus class actions
  2. Targeted areas
    1. Automatic meal break deductions
    2. Unauthorized hours worked
    3. On-call time
    4. Travel time
    5. Home health care
    6. Employee misclassification
    7. Rate of pay and shift differentials
  3. Strategies to avoid, defend and settle claims
    1. Audit and update existing wage and hour policies, procedures and practices
    2. Training for employees and managers
    3. Defense strategies
    4. Settlement strategies

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • What are the bases for the recent surge in FLSA and state law collective and class claims in the healthcare industry — and how are hospital attorneys responding?
  • What legal and practical steps should healthcare providers take to minimize the likelihood of lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations?
  • What are the key considerations for healthcare counsel when structuring a settlement to meet their clients' best interests and obtain court approval?

Faculty

Lisa (Lee) A. Schreter
Lisa (Lee) A. Schreter
Chairman of the Board
Littler Mendelson

Ms. Schreter is Co-Chair of the firm’s Wage and Hour Practice Group. She focuses on representing employers in...  |  Read More

Alison B. Marshall
Alison B. Marshall
Partner
Jones Day

Ms. Marshall is an active litigator who has extensive experience handling complex employment litigation matters...  |  Read More

Shanti Atkins
Shanti Atkins
President & CEO
ELT

She has advised hundreds of companies on strategic risk management initiatives, and has unique expertise in wage and...  |  Read More

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