MU Health sued over employee timekeeping system

MU Health has been named a defendant in a class-action lawsuit regarding the system used to track hours worked by employees. The plaintiffs claim, MU Health is in breach of contract for failing to pay proper compensation to hourly employees.

MU Health uses an automatic timekeeping system designed by Kronos Incorporated, which keeps track of when hourly employees clock in and clock out. Employees have cards they use to electronically clock in and out for their shifts.

The plaintiffs claim in cases where shifts are longer than eight hours, the Kronos system automatically deducts 30 minutes from employee work shifts for meal breaks, even if the employee doesn’t take a meal break on a given shift.

One example given by a plaintiff cites a shift where he worked 12.5 hours, not taking a lunch break, but was only paid for 12 hours, since the system automatically deducted half an hour. The plaintiffs further claim that their supervisors are supposed to schedule meal breaks, and 30 minutes of time can’t be taken off their shift unless the employee is given a half-hour uninterrupted meal break. The employees filing the suit never clocked in or out for their breaks, because they never got uninterrupted breaks, but claim Kronos deducted the time anyway.

MU Health made arrangements to end this practice for two employees, but the plaintiffs claim there are still employees dealing with the same concerns.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators has also been named a defendant, by virtue of their supervisory role over MU Health.