Bayada Home Health Care settled nurses’ wages class action lawsuit for $13.5 million
The settlement, if approved by a judge, will cover nearly 11,000 Bayada nurses in Pennsylvania.
Bayada Home Health Care Inc., one of the nation’s largest home care providers, agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in Philadelphia alleging the company failed to pay nurses for time spent updating the incoming nurse or caregiver on a patient’s condition and for time spent in mandatory training sessions.
The Legal Intelligencer first reported the $13.5 million Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas settlement Wednesday. Bayada, a Pennsauken nonprofit with $1.6 billion in revenue in 2022, said the terms of the settlement are not final. “We’re not in a position to make a statement at this time,” the company said.
An expert report included in the nurses’ pretrial memorandum estimated that Bayada underpaid nearly 11,000 Pennsylvania nurses by $30.8 million since August 2013. The lawsuit was filed in 2016. Representing the nurses were Shaffer & Gaier LLC and Miller Shah LLP in Philadelphia and Stephan Zouras LLP in Chicago.
Bayada, represented by attorneys in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s Harrisburg and Pittsburgh offices, said in its pretrial memorandum that nurses regularly have downtime during shifts to complete administrative tasks. The company said Medicaid and other insurers do not pay for overlapping home care nurses.
Bayada founder and former CEO Mark Baiada in 2018 donated the company to a nonprofit he created for the purpose. His son, David Baiada, is now CEO.