Mission Health settles $1.56 million wage lawsuit for hourly workers

Mission Health has agreed to pay $1,563,000 to settle a class action wage case that could put money back in the hands of as many as 18,000 current and former hourly workers across Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. After attorneys’ fees, the remaining settlement pool is expected to be about $917,579, a figure that turns a legal dispute into a small but tangible payout for employees who say they lost wages on ordinary shifts.

The lawsuit accused the HCA Healthcare-owned hospital network centered in Asheville of rounding down hours employees actually worked, failing to pay overtime in some cases and deducting time for lunch breaks even when workers did not take them. The case stems from a civil complaint filed by Sharon McRee, who worked for Mission from 2002 to 2022. Settlement documents reportedly say the agreement is not an admission of fault, liability, wrongdoing or damages by the released parties.

The numbers show why the case matters locally. Mission is one of the region’s largest employers, and payroll practices can touch nurses, aides, clerks, food service staff, environmental services workers and other hourly employees who keep Mission Hospital and its related operations running. If the post-fee settlement were divided evenly among 18,000 workers, it would amount to about $51 each, though actual payments are likely to vary based on eligibility and work records.

The dispute also fits into a broader labor backdrop that has long complicated hospital payroll cases. Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks, but when employers offer short breaks, those minutes are generally compensable work time. North Carolina’s Wage and Hour Act generally does not require meal or rest breaks for workers age 16 and older, and state labor law does not require an employer to use a time clock or time cards. That mix of rules has helped make automatic meal deductions and rounding systems a recurring source of wage complaints.

The settlement arrives while Mission remains under intense scrutiny after HCA bought the system in 2019 for $1.5 billion. Since then, Mission has faced repeated criticism over staffing, patient safety and related lawsuits. For workers who said they were shortchanged minute by minute, the settlement offers a financial reckoning for a practice that reached deep into the daily life of the hospital system.