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Franciscan VNS Home Care has paid $3.65 million to settle claims that it failed to pay dozens of health care workers overtime from Aug. 20, 2020, to July 24, 2024.
Cccupational therapists, physical therapists, and registered nurses have received payments from the settlement, which U.S. District Judge Matthew P. Brookman in Indianapolis approved in December.
The money each employee received depended on their length of employment, the plantiffs’ law firm said. Long-term employees received more than $40,000.
Court documents show that about $1.2 million of the settlement will go toward paying the attorney fees of the plaintiffs, who were represented by Robert Hunt with The Law Office of Robert J. Hunt LLC.
The original lawsuit, filed in January 2023, said the employees were home health care providers who were largely paid on a “pay per visit” basis.
The named plaintiff, Lisa Ann Beals, said she worked more than 40 hours per week and was not compensated for tasks such as making calls, traveling between clients, and paperwork and charting.
The lawsuit accused Franciscan VNS of failing to pay employees one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay for hours beyond 40, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Indiana Wage Payment statutes, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the case were represented by Robert Hunt with The Law Office of Robert J. Hunt, LLC. Court records show that the law firm will recieve
In written remarks, the plaintiffs’ attorneys told The Indiana Lawyer, “We are very pleased with the settlement obtained for the class and are confident that class members have now been paid for all potential overtime wages due to them.”
Attorneys for Franciscan VNS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court documents say the settlement should not be construed as an admission by Franciscan VNS that the lawsuit’s claims had merit.
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