Cooper University Hospital Active Investigation

Are There Any Deadlines?

Yes. If you are awarded money under federal law, you will likely be able to collect back wages
only for the three years immediately prior to the date of filing of your consent to join the lawsuit.
Therefore, every day that you wait to contact our legal team means you could be losing some or
all of your claim. If you do want to find out what, if anything, you may be owed, you should
contact our legal team at once. However, you will not be represented by the law firm until a
case is filed, you decide to participate in the case, and your consent form is filed with the court.

Click here for important information about our potential representation of you.

How Was I Not Paid Overtime Correctly?

Our team’s investigation into the pay practices of the health care industry has shown that often employers automatically deduct a “meal period” even when that employee did not get an uninterrupted meal period. We believe that Cooper University Hospital may be engaging in similar activities.

The law requires Cooper University Hospital to pay you for a meal period when you are interrupted or miss it. Federal law and regulations clearly say Cooper University Hospital must pay you for interrupted or missed lunches. Click here

The United States Department of Labor has recently issued a bulletin warning health care employers such as Cooper University Hospital that they are violating the regulations that govern meal breaks whenever they deduct for meal periods and you are interrupted or miss that meal period.

Really what Cooper University Hospital could be doing is “stealing time”—from you. Cooper University Hospital would fire you if you automatically added a half-an-hour a day to your time, whether you worked it or not. It is just as wrong for Cooper University Hospital to automatically take a half-an-hour of time away from you each day whether you worked through your meal period or not.

Similar cases brought by different attorneys in the jurisdictions have resulted in significant recoveries for employees.

A similar case filed against a health care employer was recently settled by our legal team. Click here.

What If I Knew I Was Not Going To Be Paid For This Time?

That does not matter—you still need to be paid for it. The regulations require that Cooper University Hospital pay you for all the time you are permitted to work. If you work the time, you are to be paid for it, even if you agreed to work, and even if you did not expect to get paid for it.

What If I Don’t Have Any Time Records?

You don’t need your time records to be able to recover money. The law requires that Cooper University Hospital keep accurate time records for the time you worked. If Cooper University Hospital did not do that—for example by automatically deducting a half-an-hour for lunch even when you worked part or all of that time—your testimony would be used to determine the amount you are owed.

Do I Need To Pay Any Money?

No. There is absolutely no upfront cost to participate in this investigation.

You will also not be charged any upfront money to participate in a lawsuit we file. Instead, our fees will likely be paid by the employer or from any verdict or settlement. If there is no recovery you are not obligated to pay any fees or costs.

If, as we expect, a lawsuit is filed and if we get money or other benefits for the employees, we will likely ask the Court for our fees and expenses. Therefore, when a case is settled or brought to verdict, a portion of the settlement is approved by the court as attorney fees. Costs of the lawsuit are also typically paid out of the settlement fund. In no case would you be asked to spend your own money for attorney fees or costs. You won't have to pay these fees and expenses out-of-pocket. If the Court grants the lawyers’ request, the fees and expenses would be either deducted from any money obtained for the Class or paid separately by your employer. To the extent fees and costs are paid from a settlement fund, the class members' share is reduced.

If the Plaintiffs obtain money or benefits as a result of the trial or a settlement, you will be notified about how to participate. We do not know how long this will take

Should I Be Afraid Of Participating In The Investigation?

No. We will not tell Cooper University Hospital that you contacted us.

If you would like to talk confidentially (and at no charge or obligation) to one of the attorneys handling this investigation, please contact us.

Should I Let Others Know About The Investigation?

Yes. It’s important and helpful to our legal team that all hourly employees at Cooper University Hospital learn about the investigation as soon as possible because of the deadlines that may apply to getting back wages.

So Cooper University Hospital employees don’t lose the opportunity of getting their back wages, please let anyone else know who might be interested.

Do I Qualify For The Investigation?

Our typical case will involve someone who has worked as an hourly employee in the last three years and whose employer automatically deducted time for lunch even when the employee missed their lunch or was interrupted. Additionally, you can contact us so we can learn more about your employment situation. There is no charge or obligation if you contact us. We not disclose to your employer any information that you provide our legal team.

How Much Money Would I Be Entitled To?

Our team handling this nationwide investigation of pay practices in the health care industry has estimated the unpaid wages to be a significant amount. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

It would take a detailed calculation based on the facts of your case to determine how much you would be owed. Our team can provide one if you contact us.

However, the amounts can be significant. You could be entitled to some or all of the following:

the straight-time pay you lost each week of the last three years,
time-and-one-half if that additional time means you worked over 40 hours in a week,
doubling of that amount,
your attorneys' fees paid by your employer.

Click here for important information about our potential representation of you.

Is This A Lawsuit?

No. At this point we are merely investigating the employment practices at Cooper University Hospital and we would like to learn more about your employment there through the information sheet.

Am I Represented By Your Law Firm?

No. Our representation of you will only start once we have concluded our investigation, we have decided to file a lawsuit against Cooper University Hospital, you have asked to participate by submitting a consent form, and we have filed your consent form with the court. The information sheet is not the consent form or request to participate. If you decide to later fill in the consent form, we would be representing you only once we filed that request in court, and we would only be representing you for those claims stated in our complaint.

Important court deadlines are passing daily that could reduce your recovery. Further, you may have claims that are not included in the information you give us, or are not the type of claims we would handle. Therefore, we encourage you to retain another attorney now if you want to investigate any claims you may have.

Choosing an attorney is an important decision. You should select the attorney who you feel can represent you the best whether it is our firm or another firm.

Attorney Advertising, Advertising Material: Hospital Class Action Lawsuits & Investigations are being handled by Thomas & Solomon LLP. Prior Results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Damage awards in other lawsuits are only identified as an example of the types of settlements obtained and are not a guarantee of whether any recovery may be obtained. If Thomas & Solomon LLP represents you, our representation will be limited to unpaid wage claims or claims arising out of wage and hour law as alleged in the complaint if it is filed. This website should not be construed as legal advice. Attorneys at Thomas & Solomon LLP are licensed to practice in New York State, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania only. Thomas & Solomon is not responsible for the content of external internet sites or images from other sources.

Thomas & Solomon LLP | 693 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607 | 877.272.4066 (tel), 877.272.4088 (fax)