The US Department of Labor has recovered $375,649 in back wages and liquidated damages for 806 current and former employees of nursing homes in upstate New York that denied them overtime pay in violation of federal law. The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Hurlbut Health Consulting LLC — doing business as Hurlbut Care and Hurlbut Care Communities — violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay workers time-and-one-half rates for hours over 40 in a workweek. Specifically, the investigation found Hurlbut failed to combine hours worked when employees, including certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses and some non-nursing employees, worked at multiple locations in a week. The employer also miscalculated the weighted average when paying overtime and failed to include bonuses and shift differentials in calculating employees’ required rates of pay. In addition to the back wages and liquidated damages, Hurlbut has paid $69,519 in civil money penalties to the department for their willful and repeated violations. The division identified similar violations in previous investigations of this employer.
