| Please read the Federal Regulations that require you to be paid for all the time that you work. These same Federal Regulations require that you be completely relieved of your duties during your meal period. | ||
Our team of attorneys is currently investigating whether to file a lawsuit against Community Health System and related entities (referred to in this notice as “Community Health System”). The investigation relates to how Community Health System paid its hourly employees and whether it had employees work through part or all of their meal periods but did not pay them for that meal period.
No lawsuit has been filed and there has been no determination whether Community Health System did anything wrong. There is no money available now and no guarantee there will be. However, if you:
You may have legal rights to protect and you have a choice to make as to whether you contact our legal team to participate.
ASK TO BE INCLUDED |
Ask
to join in a lawsuit if it is filed. Await the outcome. Give up right to sue
separately. |
DO NOTHING |
Do
nothing. Get no benefits from any lawsuit filed. Keep right to sue
separately. |
Your options are explained in this notice. If you do not join, you risk losing any recovery for any time you worked more than three years.
It may if you:
• worked as an hourly employee for Community Health System at any of its locations at some point in the last three years;
• worked for at least part of a meal period; and
• were not paid for that meal period.
Yes. You will probably only be able to collect wages under federal law for the three years before the date your consent form is filed. Therefore, every day that you wait to submit the consent form once the lawsuit is filed means you could be losing some or all of your claim. If you do want to act, you should send in the consent form as soon as possible. However, you will not be represented by our law firm in this case until the case is filed and your consent form is filed with it.
In a collective (or class) action lawsuit, one or more people called "Class Representatives" sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. The people together are a "Class" or "Class Members." The individuals who sue—and all the Class Members like them—are called the plaintiffs. The company that is sued (for example, if this lawsuit is filed, Community Health System) is called the defendant. Unless each employee's case ends up being tried separately, one Court resolves the issues for everyone in the Class—except for those people who choose not to join the Class.
In the lawsuit that the employees are considering bringing, the employees may say that Community Health System failed to pay hourly employees for all the time that Community Health System permitted them to do work. Specifically, employees may say that among other things, Community Health System implemented an automatic meal deduction policy under which hourly employees were not paid for their meal periods, even though the employees did some work during those meal periods.
If the lawsuit is filed, the employees will ask that because Community Health System did not pay overtime as required by law, they are owed that unpaid overtime, as well as additional damages allowed by the law and your attorneys' fees.
No lawsuit has been filed and a Court hasn't decided whether Community Health System or the employees are correct. In this case, the Court has not yet determined whether the employees have similar enough claims that it makes sense to have those claims combined in one case. Therefore, there is no money available now.
Once the lawsuit is filed and people have had the chance to opt in, the Court will decide whether people who have opted in may participate in the case as class members. Only people "similarly situated" to the plaintiffs may participate as class members. To determine whether you are indeed a proper member of the class, Community Health System will likely ask the Court to engage in a review of the circumstances of your employment with Community Health System, taking into account factors such as employment setting, recording and payment for time worked, any defenses asserted against you by Community Health System, and other procedural issues.
To participate in any lawsuit that is filed, you need to fill out the two forms found here and return them to the law firm representing the plaintiffs. You will also need to qualify to participate. It is entirely your own decision whether or not to join this lawsuit.
If you fail to do so, you will not be allowed to participate in any recovery for the federal overtime claims in this lawsuit and may be jeopardizing your right to sue.
If you decide to join this suit, you will be bound by the settlement or judgment, whether it is favorable or not. If there is a favorable resolution, either by settlement or judgment, and you qualify, you will be entitled to some portion of the recovery.
If you do nothing, you will not participate in the collective action that is filed. You will not be bound by any decision on the federal overtime suit. Therefore, you will not be entitled to any recovery should there be any for those claims.
You can also start your own lawsuit against Community Health System. You'll have to hire and pay your own lawyer for that lawsuit, and you'll have to prove your claims. If you do exclude yourself so you can start or continue your own lawsuit against Community Health System, you should talk to your own lawyer soon, because your claims may be subject to a statute of limitations of two or three years.
Community Health System will not know that you submitted the consent form unless a lawsuit is actually filed. Then you would be one of a large number of employees whose forms are filed seeking back pay. Further, Community Health System is prohibited from taking any action against you should you join this lawsuit. Such conduct would also be illegal and you are entitled to additional damages should a court determine Community Health System took any action against you for joining this lawsuit.
The lawyers will handle most of the presentation of the case. From time-to-time, your lawyers will ask you for information and you would need to give that information to them. If a lawsuit is filed, you may also be asked to answer questions from the other attorney prior to trial for part of a day. Should there be a trial, some Plaintiffs may testify. Regardless, if you are asked to give information, the attorneys will work with you so that the process is as convenient for you as possible.
Not unless you hired a lawyer. The law firm of Thomas & Solomon LLP are lawyers investigating the potential case against Community Health System. They are experienced in handling similar cases against other employers. More information about the law firm, its practices, and its lawyers' experience is available at theemploymentattorneys.com.
Unless you choose another lawyer (see: Should I get my own Lawyer?), these attorneys would represent you in the action. That representation would only start once you have returned the consent form and a lawsuit is filed and that form is filed in court. You would not be represented by the lawyers before that. Once the form is filed, you would only be represented by these attorneys for the claims raised in the complaint in this case.
No. Thomas & Solomon LLP's representation of you would only start once our investigation has concluded, you decide to participate in a lawsuit our legal team may file, your claims are eligible for inclusion in that lawsuit, and you sign a consent form that is filed in court. You would not be represented by our legal team before that. Once that has occurred, you would be represented by these attorneys only for the claims raised in the complaint that initiates that lawsuit.
You do not need to hire your own lawyer if you and Thomas & Solomon LLP agree that it should represent you, something that will occur only once we have concluded our investigation, have decided to file a lawsuit, you decide to participate in the lawsuit, and your consent form is filed with the court. If you want your own lawyer before then, or instead of Thomas & Solomon LLP, you will likely have to pay that lawyer. However, you can ask him or her to evaluate your case, file a complaint, or appear in court for you if you want someone other than Thomas & Solomon LLP to speak for you.
If a lawsuit is filed and the attorneys get money or benefits for the employees, they may ask the Court for fees and expenses. Typically, if a case settles a portion of the settlement is approved by the court as attorney fees. Costs of the lawsuit are also typically paid out of the settlement fund. These fees and costs reduce the amount the plaintiffs recover. In no case would you be asked to spend your own money for attorney fees or costs. You won't have to pay these fees and expenses out-of-pocket. If the Court grants the lawyers' request, the fees and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the Class or paid separately by Community Health System. If there is no recovery you are not obligated to pay fees or costs.
If the Plaintiffs obtain money or benefits as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to participate. We do not know how long this will take.
On this website, the lawyers for the employees have put additional information about the case. You can also contact the Plaintiffs' attorneys at:
Hospital Overtime Class Action Lawsuits & Investigations
Thomas & Solomon LLP
693 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
877.272.4066
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