By Craig Johnson

Staffing firm provider NuWest Group agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit by travel nurses alleging inaccurate overtime pay calculations and mid-contract wage cuts, according to court records.

The suit claimed NuWest improperly included only direct hourly cash wages when calculating overtime and did not consider other compensation such as stipends, which the lawsuit argued functioned as wages.

In addition, the suit alleged travel nurses began assignments only to later have their wages cut. It alleged nurses received a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer once starting, requiring them to accept less pay for the assignment or be terminated.

Final approval for the settlement came Oct. 14, when Judge Ricardo S. Martinez of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington signed off.

Approximately 2,300 individuals will receive compensation for not receiving full overtime pay because of the stipends, according to the motion for final approval of the settlement. The average settlement check will be approximately $980, with the highest check exceeding $9,000.

For the wage-reductions portion of the lawsuit, there are 413 people who have submitted claims. The projected average payment per claimant will be $3,000 for 123 of those who submitted claims with documentation of a mid-contract pay reduction. The remaining 290 claimants, who only attested to mid-contract reductions, will receive $140 per capita.

Allegations

The overtime claim in the suit said meal and housing allowances should have been included when calculating overtime.

“In calculating the overtime rate paid to its employees, NuWest wrongfully excluded from their regular rate various stipends and allowances paid to its employees, including a ‘Meals and Incidentals Stipend’ and ‘Housing Stipend,’ even though these payments functioned as a form of compensation as part of its employees’ pay package,” according to the second amended complaint.

The stipend payments were tied to the number of hours worked rather than expenses incurred, according to court filings. The payments did not vary with the amount of a nurse’s actual expenses, nor were nurses required to document their actual expenses.

The other claim was that nurses’ contract pay rates were reduced after beginning an assignment.

“A key allegation in the mid-contract rate reduction claims was that NuWest concealed from these workers that it had engaged in a pattern and practice of reducing rates and that it was likely to occur to these nurses,” according to a court filing.

In one instance, a nurse took a position in Chico, California, starting Feb. 8, 2022, for a base hourly pay rate of $125 with a minimum of 60 scheduled hours per week. The nurse, who was from Oklahoma, started the assignment but was told on Feb. 22, 2022, that she had to accept a reduced hourly rate of $102.

In 2022, NuWest added language to its employment contracts with travel nurses advising that these types of rate reductions could occur during an assignment, according to court documents.

Attorneys in the case have been contacted for comment.