Wage and Hour Cases in Colorado, Kentucky and Pennsylvania

Wage and Hour Roundup, Coast to Coast

Posted on 16-Jun-08 by The Timekeeper

“Prep Time” in Kentucky

AKAL Security has agreed to pay $269,954 in back wages to 469 employees working at Fort Campbell, Ky., following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Laborâ€™s Wage and Hour Division.

The investigation, covering the period July 2004 to July 2006, revealed that AKAL didn’t compensate guards for their time spent picking up their weapons and getting to their assigned duty post.

“Donning and doffing” continues to be a gray area in wage and hour law. Your best bet: until the Supreme Court sees fit to clarify the situation, consult with a qualified advisor who’s familiar with the court rulings that apply to your jurisdiction to make sure your policies are acceptable. And when in doubt, it’s usually safer (and a nice employee relations gesture) to go ahead and pay for the time.

Misclassification Snafu in Colorado

Centura Health Data Center must pay 21 employees $104,988 in back wages because of violations of the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

When changing formerly hourly positions to salared classifications, the health care provider, located in Douglas County in Colorado, incorrectly classified computer technicians as exempt from overtime. As a result, they failed to pay these workers the required time and a half for their overtime worked.

The proper classification of workers has been a big problem for a lot of employers — and from what we can see of litigation trends, it’s going to be an even bigger issue in 2008. Your best bet: hire a labor-law attorney to conduct a labor audit to help make sure all your employees are properly classified.

Meal-time Mixups in Pennsylvania

A Beaver County, PA hospital agreed to pay $166,000 in back pay due to overtime violations. Heritage Valley Beaver, a part of the Heritage Valley Health System, agreed to pay the wages to 162 employees as a result of an investigation by the U.S. DOL.

Apparently, the investigation turned up two problems. First, the health system paid registered nurses and clinical technicians straight-time for their overtime hours worked, rather than the time-and-a-half required by the law.

Second, the company automatically deducted a half-hour lunch break from employee pay, but never checked to see that the employees were actually taking the break. In some cases, employees were still on duty during their lunch break. This meant the hours worked as recorded by the hospital didn’t accurately reflect the hours truly worked by these employees.

If your time and attendance software is set up to automatically deduct meals and breaks, it’s a good idea to make sure your employees are actually taking those meals and breaks. Your best bet: it’s probably safer to just have employees clock in and out for the times they actually break from work.