New York, NY: An unpaid overtime class action lawsuit has been filed against Mount Sinai Hospitals Group Inc. in New York federal court brought by surgery department billing coordinators who allege the hospital failed to pay them overtime wages, in violation of state and federal labor law.
According to the lawsuit, lead plaintiff Regina Brown and other class members were consistently denied overtime wages, as mandated by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and New York State Labor law, for work done over 40 hours a week.
"Defendant bills itself as 'a leader in medical and scientific training, biomedical research and patient care,'" the complaint said. "Yet with regard to compensating its employees, defendant leads only in its willingness to recklessly break the law." Brown began working for Mount Sinai its surgery wing in 2006, according to the lawsuit. Technically, she is scheduled to work 37.5 hours per week, however, Brown claims she frequently works about 50 hours per week due to a heavy workload and the requirement that billing coordinators obtain precertification for planned surgeries on the same day the task is assigned.
"[Billing coordinators] cannot complete these tasks on the next day if their regular shift has ended,"the lawsuit said. "In other words, billing coordinators are given no choice but to work overtime hours."
Brown claims that she and other billing coordinators log substantial overtime hours in Mount Sinai' computer system but are typically paid for just the scheduled 37.5 hours. Consequently, she and the other class members are deprived of 2.5 hours of regular rate "gap pay,"in addition to overtime payments that should have kicked in after 40 hours of work, the lawsuit states.
The collective action seeks to represent all billing coordinators or billing expeditors who worked in Mount Sinai' surgery department during the past three years, up until the time the litigation is resolved.
The plaintiffs are represented by Ariel Yigal Graff and Robert Walter Ottinger Jr. of theOttinger Firm PC.
The case is Brown v. Mount Sinai Hospitals Group Inc., case number 1:14-cv-03489, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
