Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, has agreed to pay $1,563,000 to settle a class action lawsuit alleging the system shortchanged hourly workers through time-rounding and automatic meal-break deductions, according to court filings accessed by Becker’s.
The settlement covers current and former hourly, non-exempt employees who worked at HCA’s North Carolina hospitals and facilities between April 25, 2021, and July 27, 2025. U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn approved the agreement in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
“We believe our colleagues were paid appropriately,” Mission Health said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “The court did not rule on the merits of the case and made no determination of wrongdoing or fault. To avoid prolonged litigation, the decision was made to resolve the matter through a settlement.”
“We’re pleased with the result and glad that we could help these folks,” plaintiffs’ attorney Matt Lee, a partner at Raleigh-based law firm Lee Segui, said in a statement to Asheville Watchdog. Mr. Lee said the settlement returns wages to thousands of workers.
The lawsuit, first filed in April 2024 by Sharon McRee, a respiratory therapist who worked at Mission Hospital from 2002 to 2022, accused the system of failing to pay workers for pre-shift, post-shift and meal-break time, in violation of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act.
Of the $1.56 million settlement, $521,000 will go to class counsel in attorneys’ fees, $15,064.83 to litigation expenses, $87,000 to settlement administration and $20,500 in service awards to the named plaintiff and three opt-in plaintiffs, leaving roughly $920,000 for distribution to class members, according to the final approval order.
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