Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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CODY, Wyo. -- West Park Hospital District, Cody, Wyo., has paid $73,357 in back minimum and overtime wages to 33 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The employer violated the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to count as time worked certain on-call and other work time in the ambulance department.

Minimum wage violations occurred when the total compensation received by the employees divided by the total hours worked in the work week resulted in an hourly rate below the federal minimum wage. A total of 28 employees were paid $7,091 in back minimum wages. Overtime pay violations occurred when the total hours worked in the ambulance and other departments exceeded 40 hours in workweek and the proper half-time overtime premium was not paid. A total of 13 employees were paid $66,266 in overtime back wages.

“It is important that employers fully understand their obligations under the law and assure that all their employees are paid the proper minimum wage and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Dean A. Campbell, district director for the Wage and Hour’s Salt Lake City office. “In this case, the employer had a complicated pay system and did not understand the proper way to determine hours worked and the correct computation of overtime premiums.” The company cooperated during the investigation and agreed to comply with the FLSA in the future and to pay all back wages due.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the FLSA, which requires the payment of the federal minimum wage and time and one-half an employee's regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. The law also requires employers to maintain adequate and accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 34,858 compliance actions and recovered more than $166 million in back wages for over 241,000 employees in fiscal year 2005. Back wage collections this past year represent a 26 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 11 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the Salt Lake City District Office at (801) 524-5706. Information also is available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.