ST. LOUIS — A district judge has approved a class notice in an unpaid overtime case against SSM Home Care.
Judge Carol Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri also ordered the notices to be posted in break rooms at the provider's St. Louis and St. Louis West branch locations until the opt-in period expires.
Named plaintiff Christina Mayberry sued in 2015 to recover unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Missouri Minimum Wage Law. She alleges that she and other hourly paid home health care workers employed by the company in Missouri, Illinois and Oklahoma were subjected to working "off the clock" without pay.
Mayberry and other named plaintiffs Cleo Mayfield, Janice Tainter and Rhonda McKinnon further claim that off-the-clock work included performing essential tasks and that their supervisors were aware of and permitted the work to be performed outside of regular paid shift time.
They regularly worked on patient reports and charts at home while off the clock, the ruling issued May 30 states.
"Mayberry testified that she worked off-the-clock for one to one half hours before her shift and for two to three hours following her shift; in total she estimated that she performed an average of fifteen to twenty hours of off-the-clock work while employed by defendant," the ruling states.
The proposed class would include all current and former hourly paid home health care workers employed at any time within the last three years at the St. Louis-area locations.
In the order, Jackson wrote that Mayberry presented sufficient evidence that other class members faced similar circumstances.
"The timekeeping records showing that work was performed for defendant off-the-clock further support the allegations contained in the complaint as well as in the declarations and depositions," she wrote. "The declarations, depositions and documents submitted by plaintiff contain substantial allegations and factual support that home healthcare workers employed by defendant were subjected to a policy or plan to deprive them of compensation for tasks performed off the clock."