Federal regulators on Friday said University Medical Center settled an overtime pay dispute out-of-court.  The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) said UMC agreed to pay $119,175 in back-wages to 197 emergency room employees.

DOL said, “The employer automatically deducted 30 minutes for lunch from the emergency room staff’s timesheets regardless of whether they took meal breaks or not.”

UMC issued the following statement in response to the DOL announcement: 

UMC worked cooperatively with the Department of Labor to review and resolve this matter. Automatic deductions for lunch has been a standard practice for many hospitals and other health care facilities. UMC had methods by which employees could report a missed lunch, but those methods were not effective in capturing all missed lunches. UMC no longer uses automatic deductions. UMC values its employees and works to assure accurate payment.

The U.S. Department of Labor provided the following written statement. 

U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Lubbock Hospital Paying $119,175 in Overtime Back Wages
 
LUBBOCK, TX – Lubbock County Hospital District – doing business as University Medical Center – has paid $119,175 in back wages to 197 emergency room healthcare employees to settle overtime and recordkeeping violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) found in an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD).

WHD investigators found that the employer automatically deducted 30 minutes for lunch from the emergency room staff’s timesheets regardless of whether they took meal breaks or not.  When the employer failed to relieve employees of their job duties, leaving them to work through their breaks, this practice created an overtime violation when this work time remained unpaid. University Medical Center also violated the FLSA’s recordkeeping provisions by failing to track break time accurately.

“The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring that employees receive the wages they have earned for all of the hours that they work,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Lubbock Area Office Ryan Martin. “Wage violations can be avoided when employers understand the rules. We encourage employers to contact us for guidance on laws governing rest breaks and any other requirements so they can avoid violations.  The division offers many tools to help employers comply.”

Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program.  For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).