The US Department of Labor (DOL) will hold a public webinar on federal wage and hour regulations for home care, residential care, and nursing care sector employers, workers, and other stakeholders in the Southeast. On Nov. 17, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will present “Caring For Those Who Care: Fair Labor Standards Act Requirements in the Care Industry,” as part of its ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve compliance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The webinar will include a review of federal protections for care workers, so that employers, advocates, and workers understand their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST. While attendance is free, registration is necessary.
From 2020 to 2022, division investigators in the Southeast identified violations in nearly 89 percent of more than 1,200 home care and nursing care investigations they completed. These reviews led the agency to recover more than $16.2 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 13,000 workers. In addition, the division assessed employers a total of $156,404 in civil money penalties.
“Our nation’s ability to care for the most vulnerable people in our communities depends on truly dedicated people,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The US Department of Labor is determined to ensure these workers are not denied any of their hard-earned wages. Our current initiative combines compliance assistance and enforcement to decrease violations by employers in the care industries.”
You can register for the webinar here.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. Covered nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. In some states, the minimum wage requirements may be higher, so know your specific state’s laws. Overtime pay at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek. Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. Violations of the FLSA can result in fines and other penalties.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on fair wages, overtime pay eligibility, and recordkeeping. Update if needed.
- Train all staff on their responsibility to accurately report their hours worked. Provide specific training for staff who have responsibility for ensuring accuracy of overtime pay and recordkeeping, and ensure they demonstrate competence with the requirements of your policy and procedures and the FLSA. Document that these trainings occurred, and file each signed document in the employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that overtime pay eligibility and recordkeeping are accurate and being reported correctly.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
