California Labor Lawsuit Filed by Caregivers

San Francisco, CAA California labor lawsuit has been filed by caregivers who allege their employer violated California labor law and federal labor law by denying them proper wages, breaks and overtime pay.

According to KQED (6/18/14), caregivers filed the lawsuit against Kindred Healthcare and its subsidiaries, alleging they were forced to work 12- to 24-hour shifts but not allowed to take meal or coffee breaks and were not paid for their overtime hours. In some cases, the lawyer alleges, the caregivers’ pay per hour works out to less than minimum wage.

“Caregivers were regularly assigned to provide constant care and supervision to Kindred clients in care facilities, and were not provided relief so that they could take legally-mandated and much needed meal and rest breaks,” representatives for the plaintiffs noted.

Contra Costa Times (6/19/14) reports that the lead plaintiffs, Emma Delores Hawkins and Ginger Rogers, often work 12-hour shifts, five to seven days a week. They say the caregivers are contracted out to assisted living and rehabilitation facilities or private residences.

“During their shifts, Caregivers must respond to the needs of their patients around the clock,” the lawsuit alleges. “Defendants have a policy and practice that Caregivers cannot leave a client’s home without a reliever arriving, requiring Caregivers to work beyond their assigned shifts. Defendants have failed to pay Caregivers for time worked beyond their assigned shifts, however, whether as minimum wage, straight-time at the contract rate, or overtime where applicable.”

In California, the caregiver minimum wage is currently $8.00 an hour, set to increase to $9.00 an hour as of July 1, 2014. The lawsuit notes that under the California Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which went into effect on January 1, 2014, personal attendants who work in a private home for more than nine hours in a day or 45 hours in a workweek are entitled to overtime pay. Meanwhile, under Wage Order 4, caregivers in a facility are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. They are also entitled to meal and rest breaks.

According to the lawsuit, when one of the plaintiffs requested overtime pay, she was told by a supervisor, “We don’t have overtime.”

The lawsuit (case number RG 14729507) seeks class-action status on behalf of approximately 300 caregivers in California.