Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division discovered that the pay practices of three Oklahoma City nursing homes denied 129 workers of partial wages. The investigation led to the recovery of $27,135 in back wages for the affected workers.
The three Oklahoma City nursing homes did not pay for on-site and off-site meetings, on-boarding activities, and web-based training as hours worked. When the additional hours resulted in a workweek that exceeded 40 hours, the employer should have paid the overtime rate as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires.
The operators of the Oklahoma City nursing homes cooperated with the investigation and have changed their policy. Their revised policy requires all trainings to be completed on-site during work hours to avoid any future violations and to ensure that they pay their workers for all the hours that they have worked.
Wage and Hour District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City stated, “Nursing home workers use their vital skills to care for people in need. At the height of the pandemic, they were the sole source of companionship and care when facilities closed their doors to visitors. Ensuring these workers receive all of their wages is an Agency priority, and we welcome the changes made by the employer to ensure workers are paid for all the hours they work, including time spent in training and meetings.”
Issue:
Employees’ hours spent in trainings, either on-site or off-site, must be paid at their hourly rate or at their overtime rate if they have exceeded forty hours in a workweek. The Fair Labor Standards Act must be adhered to at all times. Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act can result in fines and other penalties.
Discussion Points:
- Review your policies and procedures on overtime eligibility and paying employees for time in trainings and meetings. Update your policies as needed.
- Train staff who have the responsibility for record keeping and payroll that required meetings and trainings should be paid as hours worked, and if an employee exceeds forty hours per week in a pay period, then they must be paid at their overtime rate. Document that these trainings occurred and file each signed document in the employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that employees are being compensated for required trainings and meetings, both on-site and off-site, and that they are paid overtime for any hours exceeding forty in a pay period.
