Arkansas Underpaid Rehab Workers Legal Investigation

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are investigating whether legal action can be taken on behalf of hourly employees who may not have been paid properly, including CNAs, at various rehab and healthcare facilities located across Arkansas.

Specifically, they believe that the hourly employees at some of these facilities may not have been paid for time spent working through meal breaks and that extra shift bonuses, shift differentials and other non-discretionary pay may not have been factored into their overtime pay rates.

The attorneys are currently investigating the following facilities:

• Arbor Oaks Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Malvern, AR
• Ash Flat Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Ash Flat, AR
• Belle Vie Estates Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Monticello, AR
• Brookridge Cove Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Morrilton, AR
• Conway Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Conway, AR
• Courtyard Rehabilitation and Health Center, located in El Dorado, AR
• Des Arc Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, located in Des Arc, AR
• Encore Healthcare and Rehabilitation of Malvern, located in Malvern, AR
• Heartland Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Benton, AR
• Highlight Court, a Rehabilitation and Resident Care Center, located in Marshall, AR
• Lake Village Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Lake Village, AR
• Ouachita Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, located in Camden, AR
• Ozark Nursing and Rehab, located in Ozark, AR
• Pleasant Valley Rehabilitation and Nursing, located in Little Rock, AR
• Pocahontas Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Pocahontas, AR
• River Ridge Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Wynne, AR
• Rogers Health and Rehabilitation Center, located in Rogers, AR
• Sheridan Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, located in Sheridan, AR
• Southern Trace Rehabilitation and Care Center, located in Bryant, AR
• St. John’s Place of Arkansas, located in Fordyce, AR
• Summit Health & Rehab Center, located in Taylor, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Belle Meade, located in Paragould, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Homewood, located in Mena, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Northwest Arkansas, located in Bentonville, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Southern Hills, located in Rison, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Walnut Ridge, located in Walnut Ridge, AR
• The Green House Cottages of Wentworth Place, located in Magnolia, AR
• The Pines Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, located in Hot Springs, AR
• Three Rivers Health and Rehabilitation Center, located in Marked Tree, AR
• Twin Rivers Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, located in Arkadelphia, AR
• Valley Spring Rehabilitation and Health Center, located in Van Buren, AR
• Willowbend Health and Rehabilitation, located in Marion, AR

Notably, employees at these facilities may likely have received their payment through Team Staffing LLC.

Federal Meal Break Laws

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) dictates that a bona fide meal break must be a period of at least 30 minutes where an employee is completely relieved of the duties of their job. If an employee works during their break, the FLSA stipulates, they must be paid for that time.

For example, a lawsuit filed in November 2020 against a Long Island hotel alleged that the company automatically deducted 30-minute meal breaks from employees’ paychecks even though the demands of their jobs meant employees were regularly forced to work through their breaks. The plaintiff claimed that the hotel owed her approximately two-and-a-half hours of wages for each 40-to-45-hour workweek, as she was not originally compensated for having to work through her break.

How Can Overtime Be Miscalculated?

Per the FLSA, all non-exempt employees must be paid one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a week. The Department of Labor (DOL) specifies that an employee’s regular rate is calculated as their average hourly rate for a specific pay period, including all compensation—such as bonuses, shift differentials and other non-discretionary pay—received for performing their job (with certain exceptions).

If an employer fails to account for these additional forms of compensation in an employee’s regular pay rate, the employee may end up being underpaid for their overtime hours. According to the DOL, this is an especially common mistake in the healthcare industry.

Attorneys are looking into whether the Arkansas rehab and healthcare facilities listed on this page properly accounted for non-discretionary pay when calculating hourly employees’ overtime wages. If this pay was excluded from the regular rate calculation, the facilities could be in violation of the FLSA—and workers could be owed unpaid overtime wages.

How Could Taking Legal Action Help?

Successful legal action could help current and former employees receive any previously unpaid wages they may be owed, as well as potentially force the companies to alter their business practices regarding meal breaks and overtime compensation.

What You Can Do

After you fill out the form, an attorney or legal representative may reach out to you with some questions and information on how you may be able to take legal action against the companies. It costs nothing to fill out the form or speak with someone, and you’re not obligated to take action if you don’t want to.

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