A jury in Seattle has ruled that Providence underpaid more than 33,000 of its employees by intentionally denying them breaks and rounding their hours.
The class action lawsuit was filed in 2021 on behalf of Providence nurses, technicians and other hourly employees. The eight-day trial in the case ended last week when a district judge ordered the health system to pay more than $200 million.
“It’s not every day that a health care company is hit with a $200 million judgment for unpaid wages,” Jason Rittereiser, an attorney who represented Providence employees, said in an interview. “I think this sends a message to healthcare companies — not just in Washington but across the country — that they will be held accountable if they don’t pay their employees.”
The complaint alleged that Providence used a policy – which was discontinued last October – that compensated hourly employees based on the number of hours they worked, rounded to the nearest 15-minute increment. The health system also had policies in place to “prevent hourly workers from enrolling more than seven minutes before the start of their shift, after the scheduled start of their shift, or more than seven minutes after the end of their shift near the end of their shift,” it said Complaint.
Essentially, these policies prevented or discouraged workers from punching the clock in a way that rounding could benefit them—which meant that employees’ hours were constantly being rounded off with no chance of ever evening them out, that is it in the complaint.
That policy was in place despite the fact that Providence, like many employers, used a digital clock to track its employees’ hours “down to the second,” Rittereiser said.
The complaint also alleged that Providence systematically failed to provide a second meal break to hourly workers who were entitled to a second meal break. Washington state law requires employers to ensure that their employees receive two 30-minute duty-free meal breaks when they work a shift of 10.5 hours or longer. Providence did not provide employees with these second meal breaks, yet the health system automatically deducted from their paychecks these breaks that the workers should have received, the complaint says.
“These are systemic wage violations that occurred on a small scale every day for years. Ultimately, this adds up to millions and millions of dollars. A single wage violation on behalf of a single employee could go unnoticed – but the outcome of this process speaks to the massive, systemic extent of these wage violations,” Rittereiser explained.
Compensation for the unpaid wages of Providence employees was approximately $98 million, but Providence is ordered to pay far more. Under Washington state law, employers must pay double the amount of damages if a judge finds they intentionally chose to withhold wages – and King County Superior Court Judge Averil Rothrock did just that.
With statutory interest, Providence would have to pay a total of about $220 million, Rittereiser said.
In a statement shared with MedCity NewsA Providence spokesperson wrote that the health system values its employees and “remains committed to providing them with comprehensive, competitive wages and benefits and ensuring they are properly compensated for time worked.”
The spokesman also wrote that Providence disagrees with plaintiffs’ allegations that some Providence hospitals in Washington failed to provide adequate compensation to workers.
“This case presented several new and complex wage and hour issues that are not addressed in Washington law or by the Washington appellate courts. “We, along with other employers who are also seeking clarity on these wage and hour issues in Washington, intend to appeal this finding,” the spokesperson’s statement said.
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