Takeaway: Given the complexities of state and federal wage payment and wage and hour laws, employers may be tempted to construct wage structures that fulfill the letter but not the intent of the laws. As this case shows, courts are starting to impose FLSA liability on employers when they do so.
An emergency medical services (EMS) employee could proceed with a class action against Cleveland County, N.C., for failing to pay full straight time along with overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
The plaintiff worked as an EMS employee for Cleveland Emergency Services (CES). She worked on a 21-day repeating schedule of one 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off (a 24 on/48 off schedule). Full-time EMS personnel who work a 24 on/48 off schedule will always work more than 40 hours per week, since they will have at least two (and sometimes three) 24-hour shifts each week.
For three years before the complaint, Cleveland County paid the plaintiff and other full-time EMS personnel under the pay plan for county personnel set forth in the Cleveland County Code of Ordinances. The ordinances and CES' policies and procedures provide that the wage of a full-time EMS employee is equal to a set amount divided by 2,928 hours, which is the annual hours required of a 24 on/48 off schedule.
For the plaintiff, the annual amount used was $36,900 a year, resulting in a regular wage rate of $12.60. This regular rate was used by CES to...
Indian-origin urologist Jitesh Patel will have to pay $14 million to settle allegations against him that he defrauded healthcare programs by performing unnecessary procedures on his patients. An e...