The US Department of Labor has filed a complaint against the operator of 25 Massachusetts nursing homes, alleging that it systematically withheld break and overtime pay at those facilities in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for several years.
The complaint, filed with the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, follows an investigation by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and highlights the heightened regulatory pressure that skilled nursing facilities currently face.
The Wage and Hour Division frequently flexed its oversight powers in healthcare in 2023 — with nearly 2,500 compliance actions resulting in required back pay adding up to more than $30 million for facilities, according to the DOL.
The DOL alleged that facilities owned by Next Step Healthcare LLC automatically deducted daily 30-minute unpaid breaks from employees’ checks even when employees worked through their scheduled breaks.
“The effect of this policy,” the legal document claims, “was to ensure that 30 minutes would be deducted from employees’ compensable working time even where an employee had not manually punched in and out at their break time. Defendants applied this automatic 30-minute deduction policy to all employees who worked at their Massachusetts skilled nursing facilities.”
This policy allegedly continued from September 2018 through at least September 2021 and impacted more than 600 employees. Next Step management was made aware that employees were “regularly” working through their breaks during this period, according to the complaint. If the litigation goes against Next Step, the organization could be liable for multiple years of back pay and additional damages.
Next Step did not respond to McKnight’s request for comment Wednesday by publication deadline.
Ramping up pressure
The potential fallout of this litigation makes clear that, even while facing both rising costs of care and staffing woes, skilled nursing facilities need to exercise caution and consider more than just up-front costs and staff morale when setting their policies.
A DOL spokesperson told McKnight’s that nursing homes should be careful to compensate care workers for all hours worked, not just those of their scheduled shift.
“Uncompensated time most frequently occurs when employers fail to pay for work performed before and after a worker’s scheduled shift, during an employee’s scheduled meal period and while employees are attending staff meetings and compensable training sessions,” the DOL statement explained.
The legal action against Next Step is yet another example of the current heightened zeal for healthcare regulation in both federal and state governments.
