Metro West hit with federal lawsuits claiming unpaid wages

Metro West hit with federal lawsuits claiming unpaid wages The Hillsboro-based ambulance provider and its affiliates in Oregon, California and Washington underpaid employees and denied them meal and rest breaks, according to two suits that seek class-action status Nick Budnick Tue, 07/07/2026 - 10:43 Two lawsuits accuse Hillsboro-based Metro West Ambulance and its affiliated companies of violating state and federal labor laws, alleging they skimped on pay and failed to provide meal breaks for emergency medical technicians. The lawsuits were filed last week in U.S. District Court in Portland on behalf of two EMTs. One is currently employed by Bay Cities Ambulance, a Metro West company based in Coos Bay, and the other worked previously at Medix Ambulance, another Metro West affiliate which is based in Warrenton. Both seek class-action status to claim damages for other employees as well. Metro West and its 11 affiliates serve communities in Oregon, California and Washington, employing more than 1,500 employees. The lawsuits claim that the companies violated state and federal labor laws by “willfully” undercompensating the EMTs for their hours and denying them meal breaks even while working 12- and even 24-hour shifts. Both were filed by the same three law firms: Buchanan Angeli Sullivan & Ferrer LLP of Portland as well as two Texas firms specializing in unpaid wage and class action cases. A Metro West spokesperson, Jan Lee, declined to comment on the pending litigation, and she also did not respond to basic questions about the company and its affiliates. Filed last Thursday, the suits are directed against two affiliates of Metro West. The lawsuit against Bay Cities, which serves an area spanning Roseburg, Coos Bay and Bandon, was filed on behalf of Trey Gonzales, an EMT who earns $17.13 an hour. He typically works 60 hours a week doing 12-hour shifts five days a week, it said. The lawsuit against Medix was filed on behalf of Amazing Reign, an EMT and paramedic who worked for the company between 2020 and 2025. It said she was paid $42 an hour and worked three to five days a week and between 70 and 120 hours a week doing 12- and 24-hour shifts. As hourly employees, the EMTS essentially clock in and out with their overall pay based on the nearest quarter of an hour, the lawsuits say. They claim that a companywide policy against clocking in more than seven-and-a-half minutes before a shift is supposed to start, or clocking out more than seven-and-a-half minutes after it is supposed to end means that when the time is rounded employees are not paid for those extra minutes. “By enforcing these policies, defendants ensure their joint rounding policy benefits defendants to the detriment of Reign and the other hourly employees, including by systematically preventing employees from capturing all compensable work time before and after scheduled shifts,” the lawsuit against Medix says. The lawsuits also take issue with a company policy on paying bonuses for certain shifts, claiming that they are not used to calculate overtime. The lawsuits assert that that system — along with the rounding policy — means that the companies are violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay time and a half for hours for all hours surpassing 40 a week. The lawsuits also claim the companies violate state law on giving hourly employees meal or rest breaks. They claim they expect these employees to “be on duty” throughout their shifts, without any dedicated time to have a meal or rest. “Defendants require Reign and the other hourly employees to remain continuously engaged in compensable work duties throughout their shifts, for defendants’ benefit, including during any purported ‘meal period,’ such that no bona fide meal period occurs and any purported on-duty meal period is functionally indistinguishable from regular working time,” the Reign suit against Medix says. The lawsuits seek to represent hourly employees in Oregon, Washington and California, the states where the companies do business. They’re asking that the employees are compensated for any unpaid overtime and all time worked, including minutes before and after their shifts start, plus 9% annual interest and attorneys fees. Last week, Metro West was hit with a different suit , filed by a former Metro West emergency medical technician who claimed that the Hillsboro-based company unlawfully fired her for refusing to make audio and video recordings of patients without their consent. A company spokesperson defended its handling of the recordings. News source The Lund Report