Quay v. Monarch Healthcare Management LLC.

Background

April Quay sued her former employer, Monarch Healthcare Management LLC, alleging that Monarch failed to pay non-exempt nurses for all hours worked, including overtime. The claims arose under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act, the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act, and Minnesota wage regulations.

Quay alleged that Monarch automatically deducted one or two 30-minute meal periods from employees’ daily time, depending on the length of their shifts. According to the allegations, employees were not fully relieved from duty and often could not take meal breaks. Although Monarch had a process for requesting payment corrections, Quay alleged that supervisors frequently denied or discouraged those requests.

Quay sought conditional certification of an FLSA collective consisting of non-exempt nurses who were subject to the automatic meal-period deduction while working for Monarch anywhere in the United States from August 5, 2018, through the final disposition of the case. She did not ask for conditional certification of the Minnesota claims under the federal class-action rule at this stage.

Conditional Certification

An FLSA collective action allows employees to opt into a wage case brought by another employee. At the initial notice stage, the plaintiff must provide a sufficient factual basis to show that the proposed participants were affected by a common policy and are similarly situated. The court applies a lenient standard at this stage and does not decide credibility or determine the ultimate merits of the wage claims.

The court found that Quay and the other employees had similar job duties, were paid hourly as non-exempt employees, were subject to overtime rules, and were exposed to the same automatic meal-period deduction. Nine declarations described alleged violations at five facilities, and the 21 plaintiffs, including Quay, represented employees from ten facilities. Although Monarch had 45 facilities and the evidence covered only some of them, the court held that the evidence provided a sufficient basis to infer a potentially companywide practice.

The court also found sufficient evidence that other employees were interested in joining the case because 20 additional employees had opted in after the lawsuit began. The court therefore conditionally certified the FLSA collective, but limited its period to August 5, 2018, through February 14, 2022, when Monarch stopped automatically deducting meal periods.

Notice and Employee Information

The court authorized court-supervised notice to potential opt-in plaintiffs, with changes to the proposed notice. The notice period would run from August 5, 2018, through February 14, 2022. The court also adopted Monarch’s proposed language explaining that an employer may not retaliate against an employee because the employee participated in the lawsuit.

Within 10 days of the order, Monarch was ordered to provide an electronic list of non-exempt nurses who were subject to the automatic meal-period deduction during the three years before February 14, 2022. The list must include each employee’s first and last name, employee identification number, last known address, and employment dates. The court declined to require telephone numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers at that time. If mailed notice was returned as undeliverable, Monarch would have to provide the affected employee’s most recent telephone number within five days after written notice from Quay’s counsel.

Equitable Tolling

Equitable tolling is a limited extension or pause of a statutory deadline when a person diligently pursued rights but an extraordinary circumstance stood in the way. The court found extraordinary circumstances because the parties spent significant time negotiating, notice was not provided during that period, Monarch changed the challenged policy, and Quay withdrew and refiled the initial certification motion with additional declarations.

The court granted equitable tolling for the period from October 27, 2021, through August 1, 2022. It explained that, in an FLSA collective action, the limitations period generally is tolled for each employee when that employee opts into the case, rather than automatically when the lawsuit is filed.

Order and Disposition

The order states that Plaintiffs’ Motion to Certify Conditional Class and Notice to Putative Class Members was GRANTED in part. The court conditionally certified the FLSA collective, authorized revised court-supervised notice, ordered Monarch to provide the employee list, tolled the statute of limitations from October 27, 2021, through August 1, 2022, and referred the dispute concerning contact with current employees to the Magistrate Judge. The order did not decide whether Monarch violated the FLSA or the Minnesota wage laws.