Feb. 8, 2010, PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has secured $61,962 in overtime back wages for 21 current and former health care workers of Pine Bluff-based Davis Life Care Center Inc. following an investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division's Arkansas-Oklahoma District Office.
"We are glad that these workers will soon have all the wages they have worked so hard for and certainly deserve," said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest.
Employees were engaged in taking care of people who are elderly and have disabilities at the company's facilities at 6811 S. Hazel St. and 6810 S. Hazel St.
The investigation found that Davis Life Care Center violated the Fair Standards Labor Act (FLSA) by failing to pay its employees the proper overtime compensation they were legally entitled to receive. In this case, the company failed to combine hours worked from both locations to determine the overall hours worked in a week.
The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates of pay, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records. Multiple locations owned and controlled by the same person with the same business purposes are considered an enterprise under the FLSA.
For more information about the FLSA, call the department's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243); visit the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/whd or contact the Wage and Hour Division's Arkansas-Oklahoma District Office in Little Rock, Ark., at 501-223-9114.
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