Improper record keeping for overtime pay is costing a skilled nursing operator more than $42,000, the Department of Labor announced this week.
Helia Healthcare has been ordered to pay $42,696 in back wages to 99 current and former nursing staff members of the Pillars of North County Health & Rehab Center, a long-term care facility based in Florissant, MO.
The order stemmed from an investigation by the agency’s Wage and Hour Division that found violations of overtime and record-keeping requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
A call by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News seeking comment from Helia Healthcare was not returned by the production deadline.
“Employers must understand how to calculate overtime properly to ensure that workers are paid all of the wages they have legally earned, and must ensure that they record all the hours employees actually work — these hours are sometimes very different than what appears on a posted schedule,” said Jim Yochim, district director of the Wage and Hour Division in St. Louis.
Various authorities have uncovered a spate of wage and payment disparities by long-term care operators in recent months. In September, for example, a New York City-based nursing home operator was ordered to pay more than $261,000 in back wages, damages and civil penalties for overtime and minimum wage violations.
