Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC filed a lawsuit on October 5, 2010 against Eldercare Management Services, Inc. (“EMS”) and its nine Stonebridge nursing home facilities for automatically deducting lunch time from employees’ paychecks.  The lawsuit is Toki R. Cameron v. Eldercare Management Services et al, Case No. 2:10-CV-04219-NKL, filed in Missouri Federal Western District Court in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The lawsuit alleges that EMS’ failure to pay hourly employees for all time worked including overtime violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Missouri law.  The lawsuit is a collective class action which means that other similarly situated hourly employees at EMS’s Missouri facilities may be eligible to join the lawsuit to recover their unpaid wages.  Employees who worked at the following locations may be eligible to join the lawsuit:

Indian Hills Chillicothe, MO

Lakeside MeadowsLake Ozark, MO

Oak Tree VillasJefferson City, MO

The Valley  Florissant, MO

The VillasDesoto, MO

Villa MarieJefferson City, MO

Westphalia HillsWestphalia, MO

Woodland HillsMarble Hills, MO

Stonebridge Maryland HeightsMaryland Heights, MO

The lawsuit alleges the EMS automatically deducted 30 minutes or one hour from hourly employees’ paychecks for “Lunch” time whether or not the employees received a lunch break.  In some instances, the lawsuit alleges that EMS automatically deducted lunch time in addition to any time the employees clocked out to take lunch.

Federal and Missouri law may permit these hourly employees to recover wages for time not paid, overtime wages, an equal amount for liquidated damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, and attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.  Hourly employees can seek unpaid wages for the past two- or three-year period from the date the employee joins the case, depending on whether the alleged violations of the FLSA are deemed willful.

Rowdy B. Meeks of Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC is representing the hourly employees.