A federal judge has certified a class of Filipino nurses who have brought human trafficking claims against New York’s largest network of for-profit nursing homes who say they had to stay with the company or face getting hit with $25,000 lawsuits.

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon of the Eastern District of New York approved a class that includes any nurses who have been recruited since Dec. 23, 2008, by the Philippines-based staffing agency Sentosa Services to work for Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center on Staten Island and Spring Creek Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Brooklyn.