Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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TAMPA, Fla. -- Senior Care Group Inc., owner of Harbourwood Health and Rehab Center in Tampa, has agreed to pay $95,511 to 57 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the company failed to comply with the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“Employees who work for different sections of a single enterprise must have their hours combined for purposes of determining their eligibility for overtime payments,” said James Schmidt, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Tampa District Office.

Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the employees were assigned to multiple company-owned facilities in the Tampa area during their workweek and were paid for their work, but their hours were never combined for overtime purposes. The FLSA requires that nonexempt employees for a single enterprise receive overtime pay when those hours result in workweeks of greater than 40 hours.

Prior to the division’s investigation, the company had determined that its policy violated federal labor law and had corrected the practice, but it had failed to compensate employees for past underpayments resulting in the $95,511 payment.

The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division concluded 30,467 compliance actions and recovered a record $220 million in back wages for more than 341,000 employees in fiscal year 2007. Back-wage collections in fiscal year 2007 represent a 67 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 58 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information, call the department’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243); visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov; or contact the Tampa District Office of the Wage and Hour Division, 4905 West Laurel St., Room 300; telephone 813-288-1242.

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