Catholic Healthcare reaches settlement in wage and hour lawsuit in Northern District of Ohio

Client(s) Catholic Healthcare Partners

Jones Day represented Catholic Healthcare Partners, five affiliated Ohio regional entities, and numerous healthcare facilities within those regions in a lawsuit in the Northern District of Ohio. The named plaintiffs, alleging violations of federal and Ohio wage and hour laws with respect to meal breaks and the calculation of overtime, purport to bring their claims on behalf of all nonexempt employees of the defendants’ healthcare facilities, as a class action under state law and a collective action pursuant to 216(b) of the FLSA. The potential class approximated between 15,000 and 50,000 current and former employees, depending on the scope of the case, making it the largest wage-hour class action filed in Ohio. The Plaintiffs filed a motion to certify the case as a collective action to encompass 50,000 current and former employees. Jones Day filed a substantial opposition, including over 100 affidavits from current or former employees. Before a ruling on the plaintiffs’ motion to certify the case as a collective action, the parties reached a settlement.

Lori Gale, et al. v. Catholic Healthcare Partners, et al., Case No. 1:06-CV-1776 (N.D. Ohio, Eastern Div.)