UPMC employees must pay system $317K after withdrawing wage lawsuit

A group of employees with Pittsburgh-based UPMC must pay the health system more than $317,000 after withdrawing a case concerning a wage dispute, according to Penn Live.

Four things to know:

1. Four workers sued UPMC in 2009. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs accused the health system of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by automatically subtracting a 30-minute lunch break from them. The employees sought class-action status for the lawsuit, and while granted, it was eventually rescinded.

2. During court proceedings, the employees demanded that UPMC provide millions of pages of documentation. UPMC warned doing so would rack up a large expense, according to Penn Live.

3. The four employees voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice to eventually appeal the class-action decertification to the 3rd Circuit court. However, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit rejected the decertification challenge after concluding the voluntary dismissal "was an impermissible attempt to create finality for the purposes of appeal." The judge's decision upholds U.S. Western District Judge Cathy Bissoon's decision.

4. As a result, UPMC sought $317,572 in reimbursement for the documents. Judge Bissoon ordered the employees to pay the health system, rejecting their claims that they weren't legally bound to the payment.

For the full report, click here.

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