Nurses sue Amsterdam hospital over break time

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

Two nurses are suing an Amsterdam hospital, saying they didn’t get paid for break time they spent working instead of resting.

Anne Mancini Church of Broadalbin and Kenneth K. Varriale of Northville are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam violated state labor law and deprived roughly 40 employees of some of their pay.

Varriale and Church seek monetary damages dating back three years in the suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

It’s unclear how many plaintiffs could be involved or how much money might be involved, according to attorney Sarah J. Burger of the Albany law firm of Ackerman, Wachs & Finton. Burger said the “collective action” is similar to a class-action suit in that it seeks to bring other people who might be involved under the plaintiff umbrella.

In the filing, Church and Varriale contend hourly employees in the hospital’s Emergency Department are automatically deducted 30 minutes of each workday because they get a half-hour meal break, even though employees “almost always are denied a meal period.”

The complaint alleges violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, New York Labor Law and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The ERISA law is cited because the hours employees work are factored into pension plan benefits.

Hospital officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.