Contract nurse files class action lawsuit against St. Luke’s, says hospital failed to provide enough services

ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A woman has filed a class action lawsuit against St. Luke’s Hospital, alleging the health care provider failed to provide its contracted nurses with the minimum number of services it committed to.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Angela Schuster, a St. Louis County resident and a contract nurse who worked at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield.

Schuster said she and other nurses signed uniform contracts with the provider beginning in April 2022, guaranteeing a minimum of 36 12-hour night shifts over a 13-week period.

But, the lawsuit alleged, the hospital failed to adhere to the agreements.

The lawsuit alleges that just before the start of the shift, the medical center began canceling nurses’ shifts or putting the hired nurses on “standby,” meaning they had to remain available during the 12-hour shift and be ready to drive to the hospital and work if needed.

Schuster alleged that at some point during her contract term, the hospital withheld all of the hourly wages she had earned while on standby. The hospital then continued to cancel shifts or put her and other nurses on standby so they did not work the minimum number of hours, the lawsuit said.

St. Luke’s Hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The health care provider has nearly 30 locations in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, the lawsuit says. It began hiring traveling nurses to supplement its staff during COVID and continued to do so after the pandemic subsided, the lawsuit says.

But St. Luke’s recently initiated its own internal program “to eliminate all contracted agency nurses and bring more stability to St. Luke’s current night shift staff due to vacancies in specific areas,” the lawsuit says.

The class action members are former and current contract nurses at St. Luke’s Hospital. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Schuster by Consumer Protection Legal LLC.