Life Care Centers Lawsuit Investigation: Wage and Overtime Violations?

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are looking into a potential lawsuit against Life Care Centers of America for possible wage and overtime violations.

Specifically, they believe hourly employees at the company’s nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities may not have been paid for time spent working through breaks, as required by federal labor law.

They’re also looking into whether Life Care Centers of America failed to include extra shift bonuses, shift differentials and other types of nondiscretionary pay in employees’ regular pay rates, which are used to calculate their time-and-a-half overtime rates. If so, these workers may have been underpaid for their overtime hours.

As part of their investigation, the attorneys want to speak with current and former employees who may have been affected.

Should Employees Be Paid for Breaks?

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), short breaks of five to 20 minutes, if permitted by the employer, count as working time and must be paid. Bona fide meal periods of at least 30 minutes are not considered working time as long as the employee is completely relieved of duties during the break. If an employee works during their break, they must be paid for their working time.

For example, a lawsuit filed in September 2022 by a phlebotomist at a children’s hospital claimed 30-minute meal breaks were automatically deducted from employees’ hours, regardless of whether they actually took breaks. The plaintiff said she and other employees were often “too busy with work” to take uninterrupted breaks and would frequently have to return to work before a break was up or skip it altogether. According to the lawsuit, the hospital owed employees unpaid overtime wages for working through breaks given they typically worked more than 40 hours a week.

How Should Overtime Be Calculated?

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that covered employees be paid one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a week. A worker’s regular rate is their average hourly rate during a given pay period, calculated by dividing their total compensation for the pay period (including certain types of extra pay like bonuses and shift differentials) by the number of hours they worked.

According to the Department of Labor (DOL), a “common error” in the healthcare industry is for employers to not include bonuses, shift differentials or other types of nondiscretionary compensation in employees’ regular pay rates when calculating their overtime rates. This results in overtime violations where employees are underpaid for their overtime hours.

In each of these cases, the additional pay must be factored into the workers’ regular pay rates when determining their time-and-a-half overtime rates, according to the DOL.

In the case of Life Care Centers of America, the attorneys believe employees who earn shift differentials, extra shift bonuses or other types of compensation for working undesirable shifts may have had their extra pay excluded from their regular rates, causing them to receive lower overtime rates than they should have been paid.

How Could a Life Care Centers Lawsuit Help?

If filed and successful, a lawsuit could help current and former employees get back money they may be owed for potential wage and overtime violations. It could also force Life Care Centers of America to change how employees at its facilities are paid.

Take Action Over Potential Wage Violations

After you get in touch, an attorney or legal representative may reach out to you directly to ask you some questions and explain how you may be able to help get a lawsuit started. It costs nothing to fill out the form or speak with someone, and you’re not obligated to take legal action if you don’t want to.

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