Perry County Hospital in Tell City, Ind., has agreed to pay $60,254 in overtime back wages for 107 nurses who federal officials say were shortchanged by timekeeping issues.
The Labor Department announced the recovered amount March 15 after it determined the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations.
According to federal officials, the hospital deducted 30-minute meal breaks after six hours worked, without verifying if workers used breaks; did not include incentive pay — such as shift, longevity and referral bonus — when calculating hourly pay rates for overtime purposes; and incorrectly recorded hours worked within a pay period, which denied some employees overtime.
"While automated time clocks programmed to make common payroll deductions like meal breaks can be a timesaver for managers, they can cause errors in employees' timekeeping, especially in an industry like healthcare where urgent matters often force nurses and other workers to work through breaks," Fernando Hernandez, acting Labor Department Wage and Hour Division district director in Indianapolis, said in a news release.
Perry County Memorial said in a statement shared with Becker's that its "most valuable resource is its team members, who demonstrate everyday their commitment to serving our community. The hospital fully cooperated with the Department of Labor and its process to ensure team members have been appropriately paid."