SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) has initiated legal action against the state’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), contesting a new administrative policy. The new policy has to do with the amount workers can be paid if a meal period is missed or interrupted.
According to the Washington State Hospital Association, the lawsuit stems from the policy that was released by L&I on June 20. They say the policy will impose undue financial and administrative burdens on the healthcare system which could ultimately increase healthcare costs for patients.
“Washington hospitals are committed to supporting our health care workforce and recently worked with labor advocates to pass an updated staffing law. We absolutely agree that workers need and should have breaks and be compensated for the time worked when breaks are missed or interrupted,” said Cassie Sauer, President and CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association. “However, the new policies proposed by L&I are a broad overreach in authority and impose significant penalties that will only increase costs for Washington patients and hospitals.”
The newly released policy says, “In addition to pay for time worked, hospitals must pay staff a penalty of an extra 30 minutes pay when their unpaid meal period is missed, impermissibly interrupted, or untimely. This is regardless of how much of the break was missed or by how much it was delayed – even one minute missed or one minute late triggers the penalty.
The policy goes on to say hospitals must pay a similar penalty of 10-15 minutes extra pay for rest breaks that are missed, interrupted, or fall outside the required timeframe.
