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Health Care Workers Sue Hospitals Over Wage Deduction

More than 500 employees of major health care systems have joined a class-action lawsuit accusing their employers of failing to pay them for all hours worked.

Attorney Patrick Solomon said that one of the ways the hospitals deprive workers of wages is through a payroll-deduction system.

"They automatically deduct 30 minutes or an hour from an employee's paycheck and assume they went on their lunch break," Solomon said, "when quite regularly the employees work without a lunch break due to the demands of their position."

The suit was brought by workers at Partners HealthCare, Caritas Christi, Boston Medical Center, CareGroup and UMass Memorial Health Care.

Boston Medical Center has issued a statement saying that it compensates its employees fairly and abides by all wage and employment laws.

This program aired on September 4, 2009. The audio for this program is not available.

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