By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journalc

A federal judge has certified class-action lawsuits against Kaleida Health and the Catholic Health System, paving the way for potentially millions of dollars in judgments against Buffalo's largest health-care providers.

The suits, filed by Rochester-based Thomas & Solomon LLP on behalf of thousands of current and former employees, allege that both health-care systems failed to pay workers for time they worked assisting patients during scheduled meal periods. The suit alleges that this practice was repeated in multiple facilities and impacted thousands of nurses, aides and therapists.

Nelson Thomas, a partner in the firm, said because of the scope of parties eligible to participate in the suit, exact numbers won't be known until current and former employees respond to notices being sent out, but he expects the number of plaintiffs to reach "tens of thousands."

Nelson said his firm specializes in these types of cases and recently won a $9 million settlement against Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for similar infractions.

"It's a huge victory that it has been certified as a class (action suit)," Nelson said. "If it had not been certified - and a lot of cases aren't - then the problem is, everyone would have to file their own lawsuits."

He said the suit was born after employees within both companies notified his firm that these "wage theft" practices were occurring, prompting the lawsuit.

From here, current and former employees who may be eligible have 60 days to respond to court-approved notices regarding the class-action suit in order to be included. Nelson said he is confident that both Kaleida and Catholic Health System violated the law and, though he said cases like this can take several years to resolve, he predicted a multimillion-dollar result for those employees impacted.

Reached for comment on the lawsuit, representatives for both Kaleida and the Catholic Health System released written statements.

CHS Vice President Dennis McCarthy said the organization believes all employees were properly paid for time worked.

"With respect to the judge's ruling, Catholic Health intends to steadfastly defend its position and attempt to win dismissal of what we still believe to be a dubious lawsuit," he said.

Speaking on behalf of Kaleida Health, Michael Hughes accused the law firm handling the case of "exploiting our employees."

"They (Thomas & Solomon LLP) have a track record of this type of behavior, most recently in Rochester. We most certainly will not let an opportunistic law firm interrupt our unquestionable commitment to patient care."

Apprised of Hughes' comments, Nelson said, "I think their personal attacks, particularly in the face of the judge's very strong ruling in our favor, shows they really don't have a lot substantively to say about what they've been doing to their employees.... I think ‘opportunistic' probably better describes how they treat their employees in terms of these lunch breaks."

Nelson said he expects to file a second round of lawsuits to cover additional categories of employees affected by the alleged violations.