独家：Pair Team遭集体诉讼，指称未向全加州员工支付工资
一名前首席护理经理称，Pair Team 的员工在用餐时间仍然工作，并在打卡下班后继续工作。 这起诉讼寻求代表涉及四家关联公司的 40 多名计时工人。
By Ryan Merket · Published · Updated
RUNTIMEWIRE INVESTIGATION — Exclusive
Original reporting by RuntimeWire.
Why it matters
Pair Team is using AI to lower the cost of serving complex Medicare and Medicaid patients. Two employee cases put scrutiny on the human workforce that still carries the model.
独家：Pair Team 因被指控让加州员工无偿工作而遭集体诉讼
一名前首席护理经理称员工在用餐时间和打卡下班后仍继续工作。该诉讼拟代表跨四家 Pair Team 公司的 40 多名计时员工。
作者 Ryan Merket 2026年8月6日
一名前 Pair Team 员工（其公开资料显示她为首席护理经理）提出代表超过 40 名现任和前任加州雇员的拟议集体诉讼，指控该医疗保健初创公司未向员工支付在用餐时间继续工作和打卡下班后所花费时间的工资。
该诉状于 7 月 31 日提交至旧金山高等法院，并于周四出现在法院新列案件中。被告包括 Pair Team Inc.、Pair Team MSO LLC、Pair Team Medical Group P.A. 和 Pair Team Medical Group of California P.C.
Erica Rincon Charles 指称，她自大约 2023 年 4 月起以计时制、非豁免雇员身份为这些公司工作，直到 Pair Team 在 2026 年 6 月终止对她的雇佣关系。
诉状称，Pair Team 通常安排 Charles 每周至少工作五个八小时工作日。她表示自己还经常每天工作超过八小时、每周超过 40 小时，但未收到其应得的全部正常工时和加班工资。
Charles 指控她和其他员工在用餐时间仍然从事工作，并在打卡下班后继续工作。诉状称，其中一部分未付时间应按加班费率支付。
该诉讼还声称 Pair Team 要求、施压或鼓励员工完成导致他们无法按法律合规享受用餐和休息时间的工作。员工在错过这些休息时间时据称被拒绝支付加州法律要求的一小时额外工资。
拟议的集体涵盖在诉讼前四年内为上述四家任一 Pair Team 实体在加州工作的每一名计时付薪或非豁免雇员。Charles 估计该群体超过 40 人。
诉状根据加州法律提出八项诉因：
- 未支付最低工资和正常工时工资
- 未支付加班费
- 未提供合规的用餐时间
- 未批准并允许休息时间
- 在雇佣终止时未支付所有最终工资
- 未提供准确的工资单
- 未报销必要的工作相关费用
- 不公平商业行为
Charles 还指称 Pair Team 未能报销员工在履行工作时自行支付的费用。诉状未指明具体费用、未付小时数或总计损害金额。
诉讼寻求未付工资、加班费、用餐及休息期间的补偿金、费用报销、等待工资罚款、因不准确工资单的赔偿、返还、律师费以及针对所称做法的禁止令。
这些指控尚未得到证实，Pair Team 也尚未提交答辩。
打卡停止后仍继续工作的情况
Charles 的诉状称，Pair Team 维持的做法导致部分员工在无薪时间继续工作。
据称，员工在打卡下班后仍继续执行任务，并在用餐时间继续工作却未获得赔偿。Pair Team 还被指未能准确记录他们的工作时长。
诉状对所涉任务或据称强加这些任务的管理者细节寥寥。诉状并未指出有书面政策要求下班后继续工作。Charles 攻称，分配工作量与时间安排导致员工错过休息并在无薪情况下继续工作。
据称，Pair Team 要求员工连续工作超过五小时而未提供 30 分钟的不间断用餐时间。一些工作至少 10 小时的员工据称也被拒绝第二次用餐时间。
类似的指控也适用于休息时间。Charles 表示，员工被施压执行阻碍他们享受每工作四小时应得的带薪 10 分钟休息的任务。
在 Charles 于六月离职时，Pair Team 据称在她的最终工资中未计入未付工资、加班费、休息补偿金及可报销费用。
诉讼声称相同做法影响其他前雇员，使 Pair Team 面临每位符合条件员工最多达 30 天工资的等待工资罚款风险。
Charles 的律师还表示，他们在提起诉讼前曾要求查阅她的人事档案、工资单、计时记录及其他雇佣文件。Pair Team 据称未在加州法律要求的期限内出示这些记录。
诉状保留了 Charles 根据加州《私人检察官法》（Private Attorneys General Act，通常简称 PAGA）追究民事处罚的权利。目前在庭前提交的八项诉因中未包含任何 PAGA 主张。
两名护理工作者走上法庭
Charles 是今年第二位与 Pair Team 护理管理队伍公开相关联并对公司提起诉讼的人。
4 月 22 日，Cindy Baez 在洛杉矶高等法院提交了案名为 Cindy Baez v. Pair Team, Inc. et al. 的诉讼。公开索引将该案归类为 一般雇佣投诉。
Baez 将 Pair Team 以及个人被告 Ana Robleto 列为被告。她的 公开职业资料 显示她为 Pair Team 的首席护理经理兼病患护理专家。
公开可访问的案卷并未披露 Baez 的具体指控。代表 Baez 的律师 Christopher Berberian 未能立即在周四晚间对 RuntimeWire 的请求提供诉状。
目前尚无法院在任一案件中对 Pair Team 作出不利裁决。
两案在法律上各不相同。Charles 正在代表拟议的全州性集体追究工时与工资索赔；Baez 的案件目前仅被描述为一般雇佣投诉。
两人均与 Pair Team 护理队伍有关，这一点对一家其已发布临床结果在很大程度上依赖首席护理经理的公司而言，时机具有重要性。
Pair Team 成果背后的人力
Pair Team 为参加 Medicaid 与 Medicare 的患者提供护理协调服务。在加州，它参与 Enhanced Care Management，这是一项通过该州的 CalAIM Medicaid 改革创建的福利。
患者可因无家可归、严重精神疾病、频繁住院或难以管理多种慢性病而符合资格。Pair Team 表示，Medi-Cal 通过参与的健康计划为该服务付款，使患者无需支付共付额。
公司的护理团队帮助患者安排预约、安排交通、寻找住房资源并导航公共福利项目。他们在与护士、行为健康专家和临床医师协调的同时，与患者保持直接联系。
首席护理经理负责大部分此类工作。
一项针对 568 名 Pair Team 患者的 同行评审研究 发现，首席护理经理处理了 69.7% 的所有记录患者互动。
Pair Team 将这些员工组织成包含护士、行为健康护理经理和执业护士的护理团队。根据该研究，公司从其服务社区中招募首席护理经理并将其培养为社区健康工作者。
他们的职责包括制定护理计划、开展患者外展、安排并参加预约，以及将患者与食品、住房和交通资源对接。
研究报告称，患者在加入 Pair Team 后的一年内急诊就诊减少了 52%，住院人数减少了 26%，而门诊就诊增加了 21%。
这些结果来自一项无对照组的观察性研究。作者承认，研究结果可能受混杂因素和回归均值的影响。Pair Team 为该研究提供了资金，五位作者为公司的员工并持有公司股权。
该研究仍然提供了公司运营模式的详细说明。近七成记录的患者互动涉及首席护理经理——这是 Charles 和 Baez 在公开资料中所标识的角色。
一家盈利公司正在打造 AI 护理经理
Pair Team 由 Neil Batlivala 和 Cassie Choi 于 2019 年创立，并参与了 Y Combinator 2019 年夏季批次。
The company raised a $9 million Series A in 2023 from investors including NEXT Ventures, PTX Capital, Kapor Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Y Combinator. Batlivala said at the time that Pair Team had raised approximately $20 million in total.
Pair Team now says it employs over 500 people and operates at an annualized revenue rate above $100 million. Current Y Combinator recruiting materials describe it as profitable and call its next chapter a “vertically integrated AI care manager.”
The company converted into a public benefit corporation in 2025, saying the change placed its mission to serve vulnerable communities into its corporate charter.
Pair Team has also been putting artificial intelligence deeper into its patient-care operation.
The company markets an AI advocate called Flora, along with systems that automate patient outreach, identify gaps in care and coordinate tasks across its medical teams. Current recruiting materials refer to “agentic infrastructure” operating throughout the healthcare safety net.
Pair Team says the technology reduces administrative work and creates more time for employees to work directly with patients.
Charles’s complaint does not mention artificial intelligence or claim that automation caused the alleged wage violations. It also does not connect the company’s technology strategy to her termination.
The company’s AI expansion still forms part of the environment in which its care workforce operates. Pair Team is hiring product and engineering leaders to automate portions of care management while its lead care managers remain responsible for most recorded patient contact.
RuntimeWire asked Pair Team whether AI has changed care-manager staffing, caseloads, job duties, performance evaluations or termination decisions.
员工评价描述了压力和仓促的培训
Anonymous employee reviews cannot establish whether the legal claims are true. They do show that complaints about workload and management extend beyond the two workers now in court.
Pair Team has an overall rating of 2.2 out of five on Indeed, based on 18 reviews available August 6. Its management rating is 1.0, while job security and advancement are rated 1.1.
Many of the critical reviews identify their authors as current or former lead care managers.
A July 2026 reviewer said Pair Team appeared increasingly focused on technology and automation at the expense of clinical care. A June review from a San Diego lead care manager described severe performance metrics and close monitoring.
Other reviewers alleged that managers issued inconsistent instructions, assigned multiple urgent tasks and provided too little training before workers received patient caseloads.
One former lead care manager said new employees watched a small number of training videos before being assigned patients. Another claimed Pair Team used a performance-improvement plan as a path toward termination after the worker completed its requirements.
Pair Team has a 2.8 rating on Glassdoor, based on 50 reviews. Recent reviewers have raised similar concerns about workload, training and management.
The reviews are anonymous, and RuntimeWire could not independently verify the accounts. Other employees have praised Pair Team’s remote flexibility, benefits, paid time off and supportive colleagues.
The reviews also do not prove that employees worked unpaid hours or missed legally required breaks. Those questions will depend on payroll records, timekeeping data, internal communications and testimony gathered through the class-action case.
Charles’s lawsuit alleges that Pair Team failed to provide some of those records after her attorneys requested them.
公共资金与私营增长
Pair Team’s services are financed largely through government healthcare programs administered by private health plans.
Its California partners have included L.A. Care, Health Net, Anthem, CalOptima, Alameda Alliance for Health and the Inland Empire Health Plan. The company receives payment through Medi-Cal benefits intended for patients with complex medical and social needs.
In August 2025, Batlivala said Pair Team was serving over 15,000 Medi-Cal members through 14 health plans and more than 100 community organizations. The company is now expanding its model into Medicare and additional states.
That growth gives the class-action allegations wider consequences. Pair Team’s ability to produce clinical results, satisfy health-plan contracts and expand its AI systems depends on the work recorded by its care teams.
Charles is asking the court to certify a class spanning four years and four affiliated companies. The complaint estimates that at least 40 people could qualify, although Pair Team’s employment records will determine the actual number.
Certification is not automatic. Pair Team can challenge whether the proposed workers share sufficiently similar duties, working conditions and alleged injuries to proceed together. The company can also contest the underlying claims and argue that employees received all required wages, breaks and reimbursements.
The litigation remains at its earliest stage.
RuntimeWire sent detailed questions about the allegations to Pair Team and its outside communications representative. We also contacted Thiago Coelho and Rachel Vinson of Wilshire Law Firm, who represent Erica Rincon Charles, and Christopher Berberian, who represents Cindy Baez in the separate Los Angeles case.
We asked Charles’s attorneys to identify the work allegedly performed off the clock, the policies or workloads that prevented breaks, the expenses workers paid personally and the circumstances surrounding Charles’s termination. We asked Pair Team to respond to each allegation and explain whether its use of AI has changed working conditions for lead care managers.
None had responded by the time this draft was completed. RuntimeWire will update the story with any response.