On June 18, 2014 in California, trained caregivers filed a class action claim on behalf of many employees all over the state. They stated their employer, Kindred Healthcare and its partners, cheated them on earnings, overtime, and breaks.
Ginger Rogers, a caregiver for twenty-five years, stated that Kindred Healthcare employed her in 2012 to take care of a patient at a skilled Castro Valley nursing facility. She declared that she request her supervisor if she could depart her patient’s bedside to go to lunch. The supervisor said to her no, including that coffee breaks were not permitted either, as maintained by the complaint filed in Alameda Superior Court.
In addition, the lawsuit claimed the manner that these employees are compensated breaches the law. Hina Shah, the co-director of Golden Gate University’s Women’s Employment Rights Clinic, who is the attorney of Rogers and the other plaintiffs, stated that Kindred Healthcare compensates its caregivers a flat sum for a twelve- or twenty-four workday. According to Shah, for a few employees, that equates to $5.83 per hour well under minimum wage.
Shah included that these pay rules refused employees overtime pay they were permitted to as well. California nursing home or assisted living facility caregivers are permitted to time-and-a-half pay for each hour worked over eight hours in a day and over forty hours in a week. However, when Emma Delores Hawkins requested overtime pay, her supervisor replied that the company did not have overtime.
