LabCorp Hit with Mobile Health Services Worker’s Lawsuit Over Alleged Calif. Labor Code Violations

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A LabCorp employee claims in a proposed class action that she and other mobile health services workers are owed wages for off-the-clock work, unpaid overtime, missed breaks and reimbursement for business expenses.

The lawsuit against LabCorp Employer Services, Inc.; LabCorp Staffing Solutions, Inc.; and Wellness Corporate Solutions, LLC, says that LabCorp offers to clients an onsite health services and biometric screening program. As part of the program, LabCorp employees perform health screenings to test body temperature, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, and body compositions; administer flu shots; and provide health education, the suit states.

According to the case, however, employees are not paid for required off-the-clock work, including for time spent checking and responding to emails, viewing available shifts on LabCorp’s software system, communicating about scheduling and work, and taking tutorials and tests on various health topics. The suit also alleges workers are required to drive to and from job sites, which can sometimes take hours, without being compensated for travel time.

The plaintiff, who often works in a “lead” position, additionally claims she and other employees working as leads or nurses were required to review event specifics and staff information, correspond with staff, print event-specific information, and sometimes receive and organize inventory at home prior to the event—all without compensation. After each event, the workers are required to fill out paperwork, pack up inventory, drop off the paperwork or inventory at a UPS location, take a photo of the UPS receipt, and send the photo to the program manager as confirmation, the suit says. Although LabCorp pays leads and nurses for an additional 30 minutes of work per shift, this amount is “not nearly enough” to cover the time they spend performing off-the-clock work, the plaintiff alleges, noting that her pre- and post-shift work adds up to closer to an hour and a half per shift.

The case goes on to allege workers are not paid proper overtime wages because LabCorp fails to take into account the time employees spend driving to and from each event location, which the suit says can sometimes cause employees’ shifts to exceed 12 hours. Moreover, LabCorp fails to include bonuses paid for working certain shifts as part of employees’ regular pay rates when calculating their time-and-a-half overtime rates, the suit avers. According to the complaint, the defendants apply the same overtime practices to all California employees.

“On information and belief, LabCorp pays all of its similarly situated employees in California in the same unlawful manner as [the plaintiff] and has uniform policies and practices that deprive its employees of the overtime compensation to which they are entitled under California law,” the complaint alleges.

Still further, the plaintiff claims that when serving as a lead or nurse, she was scheduled in a manner that did not allow any time for meal or rest breaks due to the fact that her team would be left understaffed and the woman would not be able to finish her work by the event’s scheduled end time. According to the suit, the plaintiff was deprived of a meal break for “all but a small number” of shifts that lasted longer than five hours, “even though she was entitled to a duty-free 30-minute unpaid meal period for each of these shifts.”

Per the complaint, the plaintiff and similarly situated employees never received premium pay for the days in which they missed a meal or rest break. 

The lawsuit claims employees are also owed unreimbursed business expenses, including the costs of supplying and using their own cell phones to run an application necessary for their work; vehicle expenses, including gas, mileage and maintenance; and resources used to print out paperwork.

Finally, the case claims LabCorp failed to pay employees all wages owed upon their separation from employment and provide accurate, itemized wage statements in accordance with California law.

The plaintiff looks to represent anyone who worked for LabCorp providing mobile health services in California at any time between February 5, 2019 and the date judgment is entered in the case.

Originally filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the case was removed to California’s Central District Court on November 4, 2020.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.