Class-action lawsuit contending Highmark failed to pay overtime to nurses reviewing insurance coverage

A nurse who worked for Highmark Inc. reviewing insurance coverage authorization requests filed a federal lawsuit against the company on Tuesday, alleging that it failed to pay required overtime.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, seeks class-action status and includes claims for violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

It does not say how many nurses might make up the class.

Lynn Cole, who lives in Luzerne County, worked for Highmark as a care management nurse from June 2017 to Sept. 24, 2019, the lawsuit said.

Highmark classified the nurses as exempt from overtime, the complaint said, but permitted Cole and other nurses in similar positions to work more than 40 hours per week.

“Specifically, when plaintiff questioned her supervisor about not being compensated for working overtime …. plaintiff’s supervisor informed her that because she was working in a salaried position, it was part of the job and that she needed to work as much as was required to get the work done,” the lawsuit said.

The class would include anyone who worked as a utilization management nurse, utilization review nurse, medical management nurse, nurse reviewer or care management nurse in the last three years, the complaint continued.

Among the issues in the case, the lawsuit said, are whether Highmark failed to keep adequate records for all hours worked and whether its conduct was willful.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Colleen Ramage Johnston, notes that Highmark is among the 10 largest health insurers in the United States, serving 5.2 million people in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.

A message left with a spokesman for the company was not immediately returned late Tuesday.