Employer: Perry County Hospital, Tell City, Indiana
Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators recovered $60,254 in overtime back wages for 107 nurses at Perry County Hospital. Investigators determined the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations when the facility:
- Deducted 30-minute meal breaks after six hours worked, without verifying if employees used meal breaks.
- Failed to include incentive pay – such as shift, longevity and referral bonus – when calculating an employees’ hourly rate of pay for overtime purposes.
- Incorrectly recorded hours worked within a pay period, which denied some employees overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.
Back Wages Recovered and Liquidated Damages: $60,254 in overtime back wages for 107 nurses.
Quote: “While automated time clocks programmed to make common payroll deductions like meal breaks can be a timesaver for managers, they can cause errors in employees’ timekeeping, especially in an industry like healthcare where urgent matters often force nurses and other workers to work through breaks,” explained Acting Wage and Hour Division District Director Fernando Hernandez in Indianapolis. “Employers who use such automated devices must verify that employees used their meal breaks and make sure pay rates and hours are accurate and that they paid employees their full wages.”
Background: The Wage and Hour Division offers resources on wages rules for healthcare workers.