Employees of West Penn Allegheny Health System have been barred by collateral estoppel from filing a class action in state court when a Pittsburgh federal judge already ruled against certifying a collective action in a similar suit by the same plaintiffs.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. found that U.S. District Judge Donetta W. Ambrose of the Western District of Pennsylvania already determined last year that the subclass of plaintiffs arguing they weren’t paid for working through meal breaks were not similarly situated enough for West Penn to fairly defend as a collective action.
