(An Iowa Capital Dispatch report) – A group of 11 EMTs and paramedics in northeast Iowa’s Bremer County, are suing Waverly Health Center for what they claim are unpaid wages. The plaintiffs — Nicole White, Brent Smeins, Miria Schuster, Dave Wedeking, Devontez Roberts, Jeff Mason, Kimberly Browning, Anthony Haubrich, Gayle Robinson, Leland Williams and Kerigan Kammeyer — are each current or former emergency medical technicians or paramedics employed by the ambulance department of the Waverly Health Center. WHC operates an array of medical clinics located in Waverly, Janesville, Nashua and Shell Rock.

The plaintiffs allege that while employed by WHC, they had a regular rotating schedule in which they worked a 24-hour shift and then received 48 hours off, while occasionally working additional hours beyond their regular shift. In May 2022 and again in April 2023, WHC allegedly announced a policy to begin paying hourly employees who worked nights and weekends a “shift differential” in addition to their regular rate of pay. In August 2024, the policy was allegedly revised to state that hourly employees who worked nights and weekends would receive a shift differential of $2 to $15 per hour depending on when the hours were worked.

The lawsuit claims the 2022, 2023 and 2024 shift differential policies were communicated to the paramedics and EMTs by email, with each recipient required to review and acknowledge the policies electronically. Despite this, the lawsuit claims, the EMTs and paramedics never were paid the applicable shift differentials. The lawsuit, filed in state court before being transferred this week to federal court, seeks unspecified damages for alleged violations of Iowa’s wage laws and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Waverly Health Center has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.