The U.S. Labor Department has reached a $1.9 million settlement for back wages for workers at Kent Hospital in Warwick, R.I., and its parent organization, Providence, R.I.-based Care New England.
The administrative settlement, which spans from July 30, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2022, recovers $1.9 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 853 workers who worked through their breaks without proper pay during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Jan. 4 Labor Department news release.
According to the Labor Department, Kent Hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it automatically deducted 30-minute breaks from employees, even though they were notable to take those breaks because of staffing needs. The Labor Department found employees worked overtime without proper compensation due to working through their breaks.
As part of the settlement, the hospital has made changes to its practices related to recording breaks.
"Kent Hospital is fully committed to ensuring that our employees receive a meal break or payment if they work through the break," a hospital statement shared with Becker's said. "Our past policy required an employee to notify their manager if they worked through the break, and for the hospital to then manually add the meal break time back into the payroll system.
"In 2023, we automated the process to ensure that every meal break is appropriately recorded. Employees now personally verify each day at the time clocks whether they took a meal break or should instead receive payment for that time. This information is automatically entered into the payroll system."