Recent investigations by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $259,647 for 330 workers of two West Michigan employers whose pay practices denied the workers their full overtime wages and violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. At the Dobie Road-Ingham County Medical Care in Okemos, the division found the employer violated the FLSA’s overtime requirements for healthcare workers when it paid overtime after 12 hours per day instead of after 8 hours in day and 80 hours in a two-week pay period, whichever is greater. The investigation led to the recovery of $235,742 for 305 workers at the long-term residential and rehabilitation facility. In Muskegon, at the main office of Martell & Company Home Care and Assistance LLC, investigators found the employer paid straight time instead of time-and-a-half the required rate of pay after 40 hours in a workweek. The employer also failed to count time spent traveling between worksites as hours worked and compensate workers for that time. Both actions led the division to assess overtime violations, and to recover $23,905 for 26 home healthcare workers in Muskegon and Martell & Company’s Grand Rapids branch office.
