Part of our utilization review cases →
If you worked for Fallon Health as a utilization management or utilization review nurse, were paid a salary, and were told you were exempt from overtime, a federal court has already let nurses in that job pursue those claims as a group.
On September 29, 2021, the court granted conditional certification in Gardner v. Fallon Health.1 That let notice go out to other nurses in the same job so they could join the case. The court approved a 63-day window to opt in.
The court looked at whether these nurses were similar enough to each other to go forward as one group. It found they were. Fallon argued the job varied too much from nurse to nurse — different patient populations, different levels of care, some working from home. The court held those differences did not defeat certification at this stage, and that the nurses "share common job qualifications, skills, and duties."2
The group the court certified was defined as nurses employed by Fallon in utilization management in the prior three years who were paid on a salary basis, earned less than $100,000 a year, and were classified as exempt from the FLSA.3
The nurses supported the motion with Fallon's own internal policies and job descriptions.
Fallon used a lot of names for the same work: UM Nurse, RN Nurse Reviewer, Nurse Reviewer, Utilization Management RN, Utilization Review Nurse, Inpatient Utilization Nurse Care Manager, Utilization Nurse Care Manager.4 The court treated them as the same function.
That matters for you. Employers often argue that different titles mean different jobs, and so no group case. What counts is what you actually did day to day.
The argument in this case was about the administrative exemption. Fallon paid these nurses a salary and treated them as exempt. The nurses said their work was too standardized for that — they checked clinical information against criteria the employer set, approved what met the criteria, and sent anything that did not to a medical director. Applying someone else's criteria is not the kind of independent judgment the exemption requires.
If that sounds like your job, the salary is not the answer to whether you are owed overtime.
Under the FLSA you generally have two years to bring a claim, or three if the violation was willful, and the clock runs separately for each workweek. Some state wage laws run longer than the federal one.
Maybe. A salary alone does not make you exempt. The exemption turns on what your actual duties were. If you applied criteria your employer set and passed anything outside them up to someone else, that is the argument the nurses made in this case.
It is the first step in an FLSA group case. The court decides there is enough in common to notify other workers in the same job and let them join. It is not a final ruling that anyone was underpaid.
Not necessarily. In this case the employer used at least eight titles for the same function and the court treated them as one group. What you did matters more than what you were called.
Two years under the FLSA, or three if the violation was willful, and each workweek counts separately. State wage laws can run longer.
Nothing. Consultations are free, and these cases are handled on contingency. Costs are advanced and repaid out of any recovery; with no recovery there is no fee and no costs.
If you did this kind of work for another employer and weren't paid overtime for hours over 40, tell us your job title, your employer and the state you worked in. We'll tell you plainly whether we think you have a case. Federal law makes it illegal to retaliate against you for asking.
Siegel Law Group PLLC concentrates in unpaid overtime cases under the FLSA and state wage laws. The firm has filed more than 100 federal overtime cases, obtained 50+ class and collective certifications in 20 federal judicial districts across 15 states, and recovered more than $100 million for workers. It has never represented an employer in a wage case. Free consultation. Contingency fee: we advance case costs, and they are repaid from any recovery. No recovery, no fee and no costs. Phone: (214) 790-4454 | Email: [email protected]
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Attorney responsible: Jack L. Siegel, Siegel Law Group PLLC, Dallas, Texas.
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"Certified" means a judge agreed the case could go forward for a group of workers at once, not just the one person who filed it. It is a step in the case, not the end of it.
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Jack L. Siegel of Siegel Law Group PLLC, Dallas, Texas, is responsible for the content of this page. He appears in federal courts in other states by admission to those courts or by leave of court, and is not licensed in every state shown in this list.
