Larkin等人诉UAB Medicine Enterprise等案

On February 6, 2023, former nurses Danielle Larkin and Mia Neustein filed a putative collective action against UAB Medicine Enterprise and UAB Hospital Management LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. They alleged that the defendants willfully failed to compensate them and other nurses for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The plaintiffs claimed that chronic understaffing forced nurses to work overtime and through meal breaks, while the Kronos timekeeping system automatically deducted 30-minute breaks from paychecks regardless of whether breaks were actually taken. On June 20, 2025, Judge Anna M. Manasco granted the plaintiffs' unopposed motion for settlement approval and attorneys' fees and costs, dismissing the action with prejudice while retaining jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement.

The court granted the plaintiffs' unopposed motion for settlement approval and attorneys' fees and costs on June 20, 2025. The action was dismissed with prejudice, and the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the Settlement Agreement for the plaintiffs' unpaid wages claim under the FLSA.

Whether UAB Medicine and UAB Hospital Management LLC violated the FLSA by failing to properly compensate nurses for overtime hours worked and for meal breaks that were automatically deducted from paychecks despite being worked through.

The case highlighted systemic wage and hour issues in the healthcare industry, particularly regarding off-the-clock work and automatic meal break deductions. It underscored the vulnerability of healthcare workers to unpaid overtime and the importance of FLSA protections in the post-pandemic healthcare environment, where chronic understaffing has become pervasive.