BIRMINGHAM, AL – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $31,757 for 93 workers of two Alabama senior residential facilities after its investigations found the employers denied the workers overtime wages.
At Alabaster Operating Group LLC – operating as Ahava Healthcare of Alabaster – investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the employer paid bonuses to some workers, reported them as wages, and did not include the bonuses in the workers’ rate of pay rate when calculating overtime pay. By doing so, Ahava miscalculated the required overtime rate and failed to pay the full overtime due to employees for hours over 40 hours in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In Anniston, investigators found McClellan Senior Living incorrectly assumed an activities director, who was paid on a salary basis, was not entitled to overtime pay. As a result, the employer failed to pay overtime due when the employee worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Investigators also determined the employer asked the activities director to alter pay record hours to substitute hours worked for early dismissal, a recordkeeping violation.
“Employers who fail to pay workers their rightful wages make it more difficult for their workers to provide for themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “Employers have been reminded that the U.S. Department of Labor will hold them accountable for failures to comply with federal laws which can have costly consequences.”
For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.
