Do the math: proper overtime pay demanded

Stephene Ortega, an employee of National City's Paradise Valley Hospital since 2007, filed suit this week against its parent company, the Ontario-based Prime Healthcare Paradise Valley, charging the hospital with "systematic miscalculation of the overtime rate."

According to the suit, California law dictates that employees must be paid one and a half times their "regular rate of pay." But many employees work undesirable shifts, such as nights and weekends and reap differential wages, says the suit, and that differential pay is not used in calculating overtime.

Paradise Valley is South Bay's oldest hospital, and the largest employer in National City. Ortega would like the suit to be approved as a class-action representing all people working there during the past four years.