June 23, 2023
A California-based on-site Covid testing supplier has paid $142,360 in again extra time wages to 65 Oklahoma healthcare staff after misclassifying them as unbiased contractors, the US Division of Labor introduced Thursday.
An investigation by the division’s Wage and Hour Division discovered Encourage Diagnostics LLC, a subsidiary of healthcare providers firm Encourage Well being Alliance, denied extra time wages, advantages and protections to workers who examined folks for coronavirus in tents, lodge rooms and different public areas on the top of the pandemic. The corporate additionally did not pay the affected workers the extra half-time common fee of pay for extra time hours labored than required by the Honest Labor Requirements Act, in accordance with the division.
Encourage Well being Alliance is a managed providers firm and healthcare business marketing consultant.
“Misclassifying workers as unbiased contractors denies staff their full wages and different employment advantages and protections. It additionally provides employers an unfair aggressive benefit and harms the financial system,” stated Wage and Hour Division District Director Michael Speer. “Whereas misclassification is a typical follow within the healthcare business, employers should perceive and adjust to the legislation to ensure staff are paid correctly.”
