Group Health settles with union

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Group Health settles with union
1,000 workers to get $1.64 million in dispute over unpaid overtime

By ANGELA GALLOWAY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Group Health Cooperative will pay $1.64 million in overtime back pay to nearly 1,000 employees under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor filed in federal court yesterday.

The agreement settles a long-running federal review of the pay practices of the Seattle-based health-maintenance organization, including allegations that employees were expected to pad their days with unpaid overtime before and after regular shifts.

The payments will go to a broad range of current and former workers, including nurses, technical staff, office staff and pharmacists, said Brenda Tolbert, vice president of human resources for the co-op.

While that amount of compensation would average about $1,760 per worker, it varies widely among employees, Tolbert said. The typical payment will be around $707, she said.

Representatives of the Labor Department could not be reached yesterday.

"We are happy, of course, that people are paid money that they are owed," said Chris Barton, secretary/treasurer of Service Employees International Union, Local 1199NW, which represents nurses and other workers at Group Health.

"We also hope that it moves the organization forward to not violating any of these laws any more," she said.

In 2004, the union filed a grievance over unpaid overtime during contract negotiations. That was a separate matter related to staffers working through their breaks without compensation and was settled in the contract, Barton said.

With the Labor Department's approval, Group Health determined the amount of overtime back pay based on Internet questionnaires completed by workers, Tolbert said.

"We feel that we have worked very collaboratively with the Department of Labor in identifying a process to resolve this issue, and that has proven to be very effective," Tolbert said. The co-op was not penalized, she said.

P-I reporter Angela Galloway can be reached at 206-448-8333 or angelagalloway@seattlepi.com. P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky contributed to this report.

Add P-I Local headlines to