Galt v. Eagleville Hosp.

310 F. Supp. 3d 483
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 19, 2018
DocketCase No. 15–cv–6851
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 310 F. Supp. 3d 483 (Galt v. Eagleville Hosp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Galt v. Eagleville Hosp., 310 F. Supp. 3d 483 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

Rufe, J.

The parties have reached a settlement in this case brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act1 ("FLSA") and the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act2 ("PMWA"), and seek final approval of their agreement, including an award of attorneys' fees and costs, and incentive payment to class representatives, along with final certification of the settlement class and collective. Following a final approval hearing held on April 2, 2018, and for reasons that follow, the Court will grant the motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Named Plaintiffs Adrienne Galt and Nancy Murphy are former registered nurses at Defendant Eagleville Hospital. In December 2015, they filed this class and collective action on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated employees of Eagleville Hospital, alleging that Defendant violated the FLSA and the PMWA by requiring them to work during 30-minute unpaid meal breaks and then automatically deducting that time from their shift totals, depriving them of compensation, including overtime pay.3 A third Plaintiff, Nina Johnson, who worked as a nursing assistant at Eagleville Hospital, joined the suit in 2016. Defendant has denied, and continues to deny, Plaintiffs' allegations.

In October 2016, Plaintiffs sought conditional certification of an FLSA collective consisting of "[a]ll persons who have worked for Defendant as a Registered *488Nurse, Nursing Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse, or Mental Health Technician" during any work week in the previous three years.4 After briefing by the parties, the Court granted conditional certification and authorized Plaintiffs to disseminate opt-in forms to potential collective members.5 Subsequently, 71 employees, including Nina Johnson, filed consent forms to join Plaintiffs' FLSA claim.6

From June 2016 through June 2017, the parties engaged in document discovery. Defendant produced hiring, training and compliance materials, e-mails, meeting minutes, Human Resources materials, its Employee Handbook and Policy Manual, daily timekeeping and payroll reports for the Named Plaintiffs, as well as employment dates, rates of pay and work assignments for the entire Settlement Class.7 At the same time, the parties worked towards a negotiated settlement. On August 21, 2017, the parties engaged in a full-day mediation session with Hon. Diane Welsh (Ret.) of JAMS, an experienced wage and hour mediator. After further discussions and exchange of information, the parties signed a Settlement Agreement on September 21, 2017.

Plaintiffs moved for preliminary approval of the Settlement Agreement as well as preliminary certification of a PMWA settlement class and FLSA settlement collective. On December 20, 2017, the Court held a preliminary approval hearing. At the hearing, the Court asked the parties to modify the release clause of the Settlement Agreement to limit any waiver of rights by class members to claims related to the allegations in the complaint and to extend the response period for class members from 30 days to 60 days. The parties made the requested modifications to the Settlement Agreement and Notice of Settlement,8 and the Court granted preliminary approval and certification and authorized dissemination of the Notice on December 22, 2017.9

The Notice of Settlement was first distributed on January 31, 2018 to 361 prospective class members, and ultimately successfully delivered to 354 class members.10 Since then, no class members have opted out of, or objected to, the proposed settlement.11 This Court held a Final Approval hearing on April 2, 2018, at which no class members objected or appeared. During and after the hearing, the Court directed the parties to reconsider the confidentiality provision of the Settlement Agreement (Section 7.4), which the Court found to be inconsistent with the informational purposes and the non-retaliation provision of the FLSA.12 The parties subsequently *489submitted a signed modification to the Settlement Agreement removing the confidentiality provision.13

II. THE PROPOSED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, Defendant will pay a total of $520,000.00 to resolve this litigation.14 This payment includes the following components: $180,500.00 in damages to the 361 PMWA Class Members, $127,000.00 in damages to the 73 FLSA Collective members, $12,500.00 in enhancement awards to the two Named Plaintiffs and one pre-certification Opt-In Plaintiff ($320,000.00 total), $182,000.00 in attorney's fees, $10,000.00 to reimburse for "out-of-pocket" costs incurred by Class Counsel and $8,000.00 in settlement administration costs.15 In particular, damages to the PMWA class members and FLSA Collective members will be distributed such that each of the PMWA members will receive a lump sum of $500, while each of the FLSA Collective members will also receive individualized additional damages based on actual weeks worked, hours per week worked, and rate of pay during the relevant time period.

In exchange, the Settlement Class Members will release Defendant from any and all claims for unpaid wages, overtime or other compensation and all other relief under the FLSA and all other state and local wage/hour and wage payment laws and common law theories arising or accruing prior to the approval date of the parties' settlement that relate to allegations made in Plaintiffs' December 30, 2015 Complaint.16

III. DISCUSSION

Plaintiffs ask the Court to certify 1) a settlement class under the PMWA consisting of the 361 employees who worked as a Registered Nurse, Nursing Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse, or Mental Health Technician for Eagleville Hospital during any work week since March 2, 2014 ("the PMWA Class") and 2) a settlement collective under the FLSA consisting of the 73 members, including the Named Plaintiffs, who filed a consent form to join Plaintiffs' FLSA claim ("the FLSA Collective"). In addition, Plaintiffs ask the Court to approve the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, to award enhancement payments to Plaintiffs Galt, Murphy, and Johnson, and to award attorneys' fees and expenses. The Court addresses these issues in turn.

A. Class Certification under Rule 23

To certify a class, the requirements of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(a) and 23(b) must be satisfied.17 "The party seeking certification bears the burden of establishing each element of Rule 23 by a preponderance of the evidence."18

1. Rule 23(a) Factors

Under Rule 23(a), Plaintiffs must demonstrate: (1) numerosity: the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) commonality: there are *490

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Bluebook (online)
310 F. Supp. 3d 483, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/galt-v-eagleville-hosp-paed-2018.