The US Department of Labor (DOL) has filed a complaint in federal court in Boston, alleging that 25 Massachusetts skilled nursing facilities in 21 communities intentionally withheld overtime wages to least 624 employees and failed to maintain accurate employment records. The action in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of the pay practices of Next Step Healthcare LLC, affiliated entities that jointly operated and/or managed Next Step Healthcare’s Massachusetts skilled nursing facilities and Next Step Healthcare’s co-owners, Damian N. Dell’Anno and William H. Stephan. The department alleges that at all of the employers’ Massachusetts facilities, they automatically deducted 30 minutes from employees’ hours worked for meal breaks and regularly permitted employees to work through those breaks. Based on those practices, the complaint alleges that the employers violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees all wages due at each employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours the employees worked, and failing to pay employees the required FLSA overtime rate for all hours worked over 40 in each workweek.
