Company settles lawsuit filed by nurses

If you work over 40 hours in a week, you are entitled to overtime pay for those extra hours. The standard overtime rate is 150% of your normal wage, and several different types of employer benefits could be excluded when calculating that wage. However, employers who fail to pay an overtime wage could be subject to financial or other penalties.

The case of Howell v. Advantage RN

A class-action suit was filed by nurses who claimed that the staffing service that they were employed by engaged in unfair business practices. The suit claimed that the company failed to properly calculate their regular wages. Therefore, the workers allege that they were not properly paid for overtime hours worked. In addition to overtime pay, they also pursued waiting time penalties because they weren’t paid in full after their employment ended.

The case was settled for $3.2 million

In January 2020, the case was settled for $3.2 million. According to the Department of Labor, this regular rate can exclude perks employers offer such as employee discounts, adoption assistance or discretionary bonuses. The DOL also said that a discretionary bonus does not necessarily count toward an employee’s regular rate of pay.

There was no mention as to why the plaintiffs believed that they were not paid their full regular rate of pay. However, there is speculation that the new DOL rule may result in employers altering their benefits packages.

Battling employment law violations

If you believe that you have been a victim of an employment law violation, you may want to take legal action against your employer. This may enable you to recover lost wages and other damages related to those violations. An attorney could potentially help you pursue your case or help entire groups who have been victims of an employer’s illegal activity.