Associated Press
Upstate NY hospital workers sue for lunch money
By WILLIAM KATES , 07.22.09, 03:36 PM EDT
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Thousands of employees at three upstate New York hospitals could be owed millions in overtime pay for working through their lunch breaks, according to federal class action lawsuits.

The hourly health care workers will soon get court-authorized notices in the mail and have until Sept. 15 to join the suits, said Patrick Solomon, a Rochester lawyer whose firm is handling the class actions.
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The lawsuits filed in November in U.S. District Court in Syracuse contend that St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center and Crouse Hospital in Syracuse and Faxton-St. Luke's Healthcare in Utica have practices and policies that automatically deduct health care workers' lunch breaks from their pay, even when they work during those breaks taking care of patients.

Officials at the three hospitals said the lawsuits have no merit and that their facilities were in full compliance with state and federal labor laws.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires workers to be paid if they must work through a lunch break.

"Nurses are dedicated and they don't just drop patients to take lunch," Solomon said Wednesday.