The case involved a class action of Virginia Mason Medical Center employees. The employees alleged that even though the hospital had mechanisms for employees to report when they worked through meal periods and receive pay for that time worked, employees were not adequately compensated for the loss of their right to take a meal period.

The trial court granted the employees’ summary judgment, ruling that Virginia Mason owes them an additional thirty minutes of compensation for each missed meal period and that the hospital’s failure to properly compensate employees from the outset was willful, entitling them to “double damages.” The parties had agreed to a damages award of more than $3.3 million to forgo a trial on damages.

On September 30, 2024, a panel for the Court of Appeals for the State of Washington affirmed a lower court summary judgment ruling.

Bottomline: simply paying employees for the time worked is insufficient if meal periods are missed or compromised. The ruling suggests that employers must show that employees, in every case, waived every single meal period not taken or that each missed meal period was truly an inadvertent or isolated mistake.