The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (DOL) recently investigated a Charleston-based nursing home and rehabilitation company for allegedly violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Specifically, the investigation revealed that the company failed to include six types of bonus payments in the employees’ regular rates of pay for purposes of determining overtime compensation.
The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees overtime at time-and-a-half of their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. As a result of the company excluding these bonus payments from the regular rate, the employees’ overtime rates ended up being lower than what they should have received under the FLSA.
As a result, the company has agreed to pay its employees back wages amounting to $61,840.00, as well as liquidated damages amounting to an additional $61,840.00.
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