Lehigh Valley Health Network to settle nurses' lawsuit for $4.5M

Hundreds of nurses at Lehigh Valley Health Network could receive up to $1,950 each to settle claims they were routinely required to work overtime without being paid for it, court records show. In court papers filed in May in federal court in Philadelphia, the health network offered a settlement that it said would cost $4.5 million–$2,564,911 to compensate nurses involved and the bulk of the rest to pay the nurses' legal fees. The proposed settlement stems from a January 2010 lawsuit by nurse Joni Wright on behalf of other non-exempt registered nurses who worked between Jan. 20, 2008 and May 18, 2012.