A group of certified nursing assistants can move forward with a prospective Fair Labor Standards Act class action against an assisted living facility over claims they weren't paid enough overtime or compensated for meal breaks.

A split U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit panel affirmed a decision by U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman denying SCO Silver Care Operations' request to dismiss the case, or alternatively to stay proceedings while arbitration is conducted.

Silver Care contended that the nursing assistants' collective bargaining agreement dictated that their overtime claims had to be handled through arbitration. But in the court's majority opinion, Third Circuit Judge Julio M. Fuentes, joined by Judge Michael A. Chagares, said the overtime issue presented statutory questions over the differences in pay that went beyond interpreting the collective bargaining agreement.