After investigating 200 residential care facilities, the Department of Labor found that workers were owed $2.1 million in back wages due to various violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Violations included failure to pay for work performed outside an employee’s scheduled shift, failure to pay employees for time spent attending staff meetings and trainings, deducting eight-hour sleep periods from shifts of fewer than 24 hours, and other improper deductions from wages.
What’s important for employees to note here is the fundamental principle that you must be paid for your work. So, whether you are working outside your normal shift, attending trainings, traveling for work, or on-call you are most likely entitled to be paid for that time. In fact, even the rounding of your hours if you are paid hourly, is regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The following fact sheet by the Department of Labor explains a number of important and lesser known pay requirements. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not cover all employers, especially smaller employers, so some of these requirements may not apply to your employer. Lebau & Neuworth, LLC has had a number of recent successes protecting the rights of workers in residential care facilities and groups homes.
