Subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente Hit with Overtime Pay Laws Class Action

San Diego, CA A class-action overtime pay lawsuit has been filed against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc. alleging senior systems administrators employed by the hospital(s) were purposefully misclassified in order to escape payment of overtime, as well as the issuance of meal breaks and other rest periods mandated by California overtime law and other employment statutes for non-management personnel.

Employees in the state of California who reach an earnings plateau, or who are working at a management job and thus paid an annual salary, are usually exempt from overtime pay: the thought being, a job commanding such a high rate of pay requires, from time to time, that extra hours should be expected and tolerated as necessary, without the need for additional compensation.

Some employers, however, have attempted to skirt around this by incorrectly classifying non-management personnel as exempt, in an effort to save dollars.

The overtime pay laws class action, filed in California in March, alleges that Senior Systems Administrators employed by Kaiser spent the lion’s share of their days performing non-managerial tasks. Such tasks included, as alleged in court documents, the repair and replacement of personal computers and servers in Kaiser call centers, installations of software and operating systems, password resets and other tasks that are considered by the plaintiffs to be non-managerial in nature.

It is also alleged in the overtime laws class action that employees serving as Senior Systems Administrators did not supervise other employees of Kaiser, which is usually a function of management personnel and therefore exempt from overtime pay according to the provisions of California overtime law.

It is sometimes the case that an employer will hire an employee for a job that is meant to be managerial in nature, and thus would be exempt from overtime pay. However, if the majority of tasks performed by the employee are non-managerial, with no provision or opportunity to supervise others, then the management profile of the particular job is suspect.

The lawsuit did not specify what damages are being sought by plaintiffs in the California overtime law class action. The lawsuit also alleges unfair competition, and failure to provide accurate, itemized statements in accordance with California labor statutes.

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Inc. is a subsidiary of Kaiser Permanente and boasts 30 wholly owned community hospitals throughout California, Hawaii and Oregon. Plaintiffs are seeking various unspecified damages and a trial by jury.

The overtime pay laws class-action lawsuit is Bernard Howard et al v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Inc., Case No. 37-2015-00008539-CU-OE-CTL, filed March 12 and currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court for the State of California.