US-based senior living organisation Wilmington Senior Care has been ordered to pay six employees a total of $15,241 (£11,814.82) in back pay and liquidated damages for violating overtime and record keeping regulations.
Wilmington Senior Care, operating under the name Summer Breeze Senior Living, was subject to an investigation conducted by the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD). This found that the organisation had automatically made deductions from employees' time-cards for lunch breaks, but had failed to pay staff who opted to work through their lunch. This resulted in unpaid overtime, which violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) if employees work more than 40 hours a week.
Wilmington Senior Care also did not keep accurate records of the number of hours that employees worked. This goes against the FLSA's record keeping requirements.
Eric Williams, district director, Atlanta at the WHD, said: "The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring a level playing field for operators of these facilities and guaranteeing that employees receive the wages they legally earned.
"We encourage all employers to reach out to us and to use the variety of tools we offer to ensure that their pay practices comply with federal law."
Summer Breeze Senior Living was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
