Strike Nurses File Suit Against Staffing Company

• Strike nurses who worked in California filed a lawsuit against a staffing company, alleging the company failed to make timely payments and neglected to pay for meal breaks and training. 
• The suit against U.S. Nursing Corp. was filed on April 14, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado related to a 2023 stint at Kaiser Permanente sites. 
• Several thousand Kaiser Permanente nurses walked off the job throughout the country, many on the West Coast, marking the largest labor strike in U.S. history, according to court filings. 

A group of strike nurses who worked in California have filed a lawsuit against a staffing company, alleging the company failed to make timely payments and neglected to pay for meal breaks and training. 

U.S. Nursing Corp. faces the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado related to a 2023 stint at Kaiser Permanente sites, as first reported by Law360. 

In 2024, there were 31 “major work stoppages,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A major work stoppage includes at least 1,000 workers and extends “at least one shift during the work week.” 

What Charges Have the Strike Nurses Made?

The suit, filed on April 14, 2025, includes the following charges against USN:  

• Two counts of failure to pay overtime compensation,  
• One count of failure to pay the legal minimum wage for each hour worked,  
• One count of meal-period violations,  
• One count of failure to timely page earned wages,  
• One count of failure to furnish accurate itemized wage statements, and  
• One count of breach of contract and failure to pay “gap time” wages. 

Several thousand Kaiser Permanente nurses walked off the job throughout the country, many on the West Coast, marking the largest labor strike in U.S. history, according to court filings. This necessitated USN’s involvement in procuring nurses to cover shifts during the strike. 

What Do the Strike Nurses Argue?

The nurses were under contract through USN from Sept. 28 to Oct. 6, 2023, and worked across Kaiser Permanente sites during a strike. They allege that USN “failed to pay final wages at the time of Plaintiffs’ October 6, 2023, discharge.” Court documents state one plaintiff didn’t receive orientation payment until Jan. 15, 2024, and another didn’t receive payment until April 2024.  

The nurses also allege that USN did not compensate them for “time spent completing mandatory orientation, induction, and training modules, including overtime,” filings stated. 

“Plaintiffs worked over eight hours per day and over 40 hours during the week of the strike assignment,” court documents state. “Before working their strike shifts from October 4-6, 2023, Plaintiffs spent at least three days and over eight hours per day completing orientation, induction, and training modules. USN paid Plaintiffs for up to 24.5 hours of orientation, induction, and training modules even though Plaintiffs spent up to 30 hours or more completing orientation, induction, and modules.”  

Other allegations included that USN: 

• Excluded plaintiffs’ guaranteed compensation, daily per diem, non-discretionary bonus payments “from the ‘regular rate’ calculation for purposes of computing overtime pay”;  
• Owed “premium pay” for missed meal periods. 

USN has yet to release a statement in response to the lawsuit and did not respond to requests from Law360.  It has, however, been named in at least two other lawsuits related to wages and compensation.  

The Bottom Line

Strike nurses who were contracted through U.S. Nursing Corp. have filed a lawsuit against the staffing company, alleging unpaid wages and untimely payments. The nurses worked during the 2023 Kaiser Permanente strike that was the largest labor strike in history. 

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