Lawsuit Investigation: Were Healthcare Workers Shorted on Overtime Pay During COVID?
Last Updated on January 24, 2024
Investigation Complete
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org have finished their investigation into this matter. Check back for any potential updates. You can also sign up for our free newsletter for the latest in class action news and settlements.
If you still have questions about your rights, contact an attorney in your area as there is a time limit for filing all lawsuits. The information on this page was posted when the investigation began and is now for reference only.
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At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Healthcare employees who worked overtime during the COVID-19 pandemic and who received bonuses due to critical staffing shortages.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe that healthcare workers who received incentive bonuses during the COVID-19 pandemic should have also, by law, seen an increase in their overtime rates. They are now speaking with healthcare workers, free of charge, to help these individuals determine whether they were illegally underpaid and, if so, whether they can take legal action.
- How Could a Lawsuit Help?
- A class action lawsuit could help healthcare employees recover the difference between what they were legally entitled to and what they actually received in overtime wages during the pandemic. A successful case could also force employers to change the way they issue overtime pay to ensure they comply with the law.
- Could I Get Fired for Speaking Up?
- Federal law strictly prohibits companies from retaliating against employees simply because they’ve exercised their legal rights.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org would like to speak to healthcare employees who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic and received incentive bonuses as part of their pay.
It’s believed that some healthcare providers failed to include these bonuses when calculating the rate at which employees were paid for their overtime hours. This may have resulted in some workers being illegally underpaid during a time of critical staffing shortages and unprecedented hospitalization levels.
If you received an incentive bonus during the pandemic and didn’t see an increase in your overtime rate, you may have been illegally underpaid.
How Does Overtime Work for Healthcare Employees?
With some exceptions, federal law provides that most workers are entitled to one-and-a-half times their regular rates of pay when working more than 40 hours in a single workweek. Some states, like California, also have stronger laws that provide for more generous overtime compensation when certain conditions are met.
To determine how much an employee should earn in overtime pay, the employer must first determine that worker’s “regular” rate of pay. In the most basic instance where the worker receives a set hourly wage and no additional form of compensation, their hourly rate is their regular rate.
Healthcare employees working during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, may have received incentive bonuses due to unprecedented working conditions that should have been factored in when calculating their overtime pay.
In general, federal law states that “non-discretionary” bonuses – that is, those given to encourage employees to work more efficiently and stay with the company, safety bonuses, bonuses for quality of work, etc. – must be included when calculating an employee’s “regular” rate of pay.
If bonuses are not factored in when calculating a worker’s rate of overtime pay, that employee may be getting illegally underpaid when working extra hours.
Can I Be Fired for Speaking Up?
Federal law strictly prohibits employers from firing or otherwise retaliating against employees simply because they’ve exercised their legal rights.
How Could a Lawsuit Help?
A lawsuit could potentially help you recover the difference between what you were legally entitled to and what you received. A successful case could also force your employer to change the way it calculates overtime pay so that it complies with the law.
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