Care Transport Service
LLC, a South Florida medical transportation service company, will pay $75,358
in back wages to 51 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation
found the employer violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Department of Labor
investigators determined that Care Transport Service LLC failed to pay drivers
for time they spent working from home confirming their appointments with
patients for the following day. This practice resulted in overtime violations
when these employees worked more than 40 hours per week and were not paid
time-and-one-half for those hours. Additionally, the employer inaccurately
classified one salaried dispatcher as exempt from overtime, resulting in the company
paying him a set salary without overtime when he worked more than 40
hours per week. Care Transport Service LLC’s failure to maintain accurate
records of the number of hours employees worked resulted in a recordkeeping
violation.
“When employers fail to
pay employees the wages they have legally earned, it not only harms those
employees but also allows those companies to gain an unfair economic advantage
over their law-abiding competitors,” said Tony Pham, Wage and Hour Division
District Director in Miami. “We encourage employers to contact us with any
questions they may have, and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to help them understand their obligations and to comply
with the law.”
