SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Supreme Court has narrowly overturned a decision awarding $2.9 million to a group of nurses at now-shuttered Yakima Regional who said they were pressured to work unpaid overtime and miss meal breaks.
In a 5-4 ruling Thursday, the court said it didn’t condone the hospital’s behavior, but the Washington State Nurses Association did not have standing to sue on the nurses’ behalf.
Instead, the majority suggested the case could have been brought as a class action. The nurse’s association sued in 2015 on behalf of 28 nurses in Yakima Regional’s health and hospice programs. The nurses said they were routinely required to work overtime without pay.