SAN DIEGO -- Alleging that Sharp HealthCare is not paying its employees for working overtime, nurses Thursday filed a potentially multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court.

"Many, many Sharp nurses are not being paid for lost meals, breaks and overtime," said Kathy Sackman, president of United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. "Nurses need breaks and rest time so they can provide the high-quality care their patients deserve. At the very least, if the nurses don't get this rest, they should be properly paid for it."

Sackman said the lawsuit illustrates Sharp's "unwillingness to adequately staff its hospitals and stubborn refusal to work collaboratively with its nurses to tackle this problem."

Sharp spokesman John Cihomsky said the lawsuit was part of the nurse union's ongoing strategy to put pressure on Sharp at the bargaining table, as the two sides try to hammer out a new contract.

Cihomsky rejected claims by UNAC/UHCP that Sharp has been unwilling to resolve the overtime pay issue.

"We've never seen this issue at the bargaining table in any formal way," Cihomsky said. "They never brought it to us."

The lawsuit alleges that Sharp coerced registered nurses into not reporting all hours they worked "by, among other things, disciplining the registered nurses who reported overtime and working through their meal and rest periods."

State law requires employers to give virtually all working people who get paid by the hour -- including nurses -- meal periods and breaks during their workdays. If people don't get to take their breaks or mealtime, state law details how they are entitled to be compensated fairly for that time.

In addition, the law requires overtime pay for workers who work longer than their normal shift. Some nurses at Sharp do work after their shifts but are not compensated for that time, according to Sackman.