Bleeding Heartland: A win for workers at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Nate Willems served in the Iowa House from 2009 through 2012 and practices law with the Rush & Nicholson firm in Cedar Rapids. This essay previously appeared in the Prairie Progressive.
In August 2019, I filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of several current and former employees of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. We claimed UIHC was violating Iowa law by holding on to certain wage payments for too long before paying. As UIHC had a common payroll practice, we sought to certify a class action. Eventually, the U.S. District Court authorized the class action, and we took on representation of 11,000 current and former UIHC workers.
There was never any allegation UIHC entirely refused to pay workers. However, Iowa law requires a regular payday be within twelve days after the end of the period in which the wages were earned. For as long as anyone could remember, overtime, supplemental pay, pay for shifts that went long, and other types of premium pay were paid one month late.
UIHC used to go so far as to have a website which stated, “Our policy is to pay overtime one month in arrears. Overtime worked in September will not be paid in October but will appear in your November paycheck.” There is value to possessing money whether you are an employer or an individual. If someone takes your wallet, holds it for one month, and then returns it to you intact, that is still stealing.