In a consent order filed January 17, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia conditionally certified a collective of salaried Care Coordinator-Non-RN employees in Brunty v. Optima Health Plan, Civil Action No. 2:19-cv-255. In this Non-RN care coordinator overtime lawsuit, the court granted the parties’ consent motion. Jack Siegel, with co-counsel, represented the workers.
Judge Raymond A. Jackson signed the consent order in the case against Optima Health Plan and Sentara Health Plans, Inc. The court granted the parties’ consent motion for good cause shown
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The order conditionally certified this group as a collective action: All current and former employees employed in the Care Coordinator-Non-RN position, who were employed by the Defendants in the last three years and who were paid on a salary basis.
The order also set a firm limit: the plaintiffs could not add anyone who had not worked in the Care Coordinator-Non RN position.
Notice terms. The court approved the parties’ Notice and Consent to Join form and allowed notice by mail, email, and a brief text message with a link to the forms. Workers could sign through DocuSign and had 50 days after the first mailing to opt in, with one reminder allowed.
This was an agreed order, not a contested ruling, and the parties’ consent motion said that economic and judicial efficiencies would be served by conditional certification and notice. Conditional certification is not a finding that anyone was owed overtime or that Optima or Sentara broke the law.
The case was brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but the consent order does not explain the workers’ legal theory or name any exemption. As general information, being paid a salary does not by itself make a worker exempt from overtime.
The administrative exemption requires pay on a salary basis at or above a set minimum. The primary duty must be office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or its customers. It must also include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance.
A separate Department of Labor rule says registered nurses generally meet the learned professional exemption’s duties test (29 C.F.R. § 541.301(e)(2)), but this collective was limited to the Non-RN position.
Because the parties agreed, the order does not discuss the certification standard, although many courts at the time used a lenient first step to decide whether to send notice. Some federal appeals courts have since changed this approach — the Fifth Circuit in Swales v. KLLM Transport Services (2021) and the Sixth Circuit in Clark v. A&L Homecare & Training Center (2023).
This page describes a 2020 court order. The time to join that collective was set by the court in that case. If you have worked in a similar role, the Siegel Law Group can evaluate your own claims.
Have you worked as a care coordinator at a health plan without an RN license, paid a salary and denied overtime for weeks over 40 hours? A lawyer can review how you were paid. Contact the Siegel Law Group for a free consultation.
Related rulings: Edwards v. Optima Health Plan, another overtime case against Optima Health Plan.
It depends on the work, because a salary alone does not make a care coordinator exempt, and the employer bears the burden of proving the real job duties qualify. In Brunty v. Optima, the agreed collective was limited to salaried Care Coordinator-Non-RN employees. The consent order made no ruling on exempt status.
The consent order covered current and former employees in the Care Coordinator-Non-RN position. They had to have worked for Optima Health Plan or Sentara Health Plans, Inc. in the last three years and been paid on a salary basis. The order barred adding plaintiffs from any other position.
It is an order the court enters after both sides agree that notice of a collective action should go out. In the Optima case, the workers and the health plans filed a consent motion, and the court granted it for good cause. A consent order is not a ruling on the merits.
The court approved notice by first-class mail or overnight delivery, by email, and by a short text message with a link, and workers could sign their consent forms online through DocuSign. The opt-in window was 50 days from the initial mailing, and counsel could send one reminder.
The Siegel Law Group is a national overtime and wage law firm devoted entirely to representing workers denied overtime pay. Where many firms include wage cases as a small part of a broader employment practice, the Siegel Law Group has built its entire practice around overtime litigation — and the results reflect that commitment: $100M+ recovered for workers, 50+ class and collective action certifications, and 100+ federal lawsuits filed in 27+ federal courts nationwide. Founding attorney Jack Siegel is a Bloomberg BNA contributing author on wage and hour law.
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