Reed v. Methodist Health Services Corporation ( 2021 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS MICHELLE M. REED, JULIA K. ) MCLINDEN, individually and on behalf of ) a collective of persons similarly situated, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Case No. 19-cv-1412-JES-TSH ) METHODIST HEALTH SERVICES CORP., ) an Illinois corporation d/b/a UNITYPOINT ) HEALTH-PEKIN, UNITYPOINT ) HEALTH-METHODIST HOSPITAL & ) UNITYPOINT HEALTH-PROCTOR ) HOSPITAL; and PROGRESSIVE HEALTH ) SYSTEMS, ) ) Defendants. ) ORDER This matter is now before the Court on a Report and Recommendation from Magistrate Judge Schanzle-Haskins. Doc. 30. More than 14 days have elapsed since the filing of the Report and Recommendation, and no objections have been made. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b); Lockert v. Faulkner, 843 F.2d 1015 (7th Cir. 1988); Video Views, Inc. v. Studio 21, Ltd., 797 F.2d 538, 539 (7th Cir. 1986). As the parties failed to present timely objections, any such objections have been waived. Id. The relevant procedural history has been sufficiently outlined in the comprehensive Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge. In their Motion to Certify Class as a Collective Action pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), Plaintiffs propose the following collective class of similarly situated individuals: All persons who are, have been, or will be employed by either Defendant or both Defendants as Case Managers or other similar job positions, and whose primary job responsibilities were to provide discharge planning or case management services, at any time from three years prior to the filing of this Complaint through the entry of judgment, and whose compensation classification was identified as ‘exempt’ and/or who were denied overtime pay at one and one half times their regular hourly rate for any time worked beyond forty hours in a work week. Doc. 1, at 7. In his Report and Recommendation, the Magistrate Judge found Plaintiffs met their burden to make a modest factual showing that Case Managers at the hospitals are similarly situated and were subjected to a common policy or plan that violated the FLSA, and thus recommended that Plaintiff’s Motion for Conditional Certification and for Court-Supervised Notice to Issue be granted in part. The Magistrate Judge recommended that the Court conditionally certify Plaintiffs’ proposed class, and that the Defendants be directed to produce to Plaintiffs within seven days of approval of this Report and Recommendation: A list, in Excel format, of all persons employed by Health Services Corporation and/or Progressive Health Systems in Case Management, Utilization Review, and similar positions in Defendants’ hospitals or other health care facilities in the State of Illinois from December 23, 2016 to the present, including their name, last known address, email address, telephone number, dates of employment, location of employment, last four digits of their social security number, and date of birth. Id. The Magistrate Judge further recommended that due to the Parties’ disagreement as to some of language in the Plaintiffs’ proposed notice and the Parties’ willingness to resolve some of their differences, that the Parties be directed to meet and confer to agree on the language for the notice within 14 days of approval of this Report and Recommendation. Id. At that point, if the Parties cannot agree then the Magistrate Judge recommends that each Party be directed to submit their proposed language for the notice to the Court and the Court will approve the final language that will be sent to the proposed class. Once the final language is approved, the Court will authorize the notice to be sent to the proposed class identified on the Excel sheet. The Court, having reviewed the Parties’ Motions and the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation, concurs with the Magistrate Judge’s assessment and therefore adopts the conclusions therein. Plaintiff’s proposed class is conditionally certified pursuant to FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b) consistent with this Order. CONCLUSION For the reasons set forth above, the Court ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (Doc. 30). Plaintiff’s Motion (Doc. 24) for Conditional Certification and for court-supervised notice to issue is GRANTED in part. The Parties are directed to submit their proposed language for the class notice within 14 days of this order. Signed on this 18th day of March, 2021. s/James E. Shadid James E. Shadid United States District Judge