Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BOSTON -- Fairmount Rest Home Inc., Hyde Park, Mass., and owner, Susan Marden, have paid 11 employees a total of $72,325 in back wages to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The suit alleged violations of the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to Corey Surett, Boston district director for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, the department filed suit in August 2003 following an investigation by his office that showed employees continued to receive straight time pay for overtime hours worked despite a previous settlement in which the company agreed to comply with the overtime requirements of the FLSA.

Surett noted the FLSA requires employees be paid at least the applicable minimum wage and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. Fairmount Rest Home was also charged with violating another requirement of the law which mandates that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.

In October of 1997 the Department of Labor investigated Fairmount Rest Home and found that employees were paid straight time for overtime hours worked. As a result of that investigation, Fairmount paid back wages and agreed to future compliance with the law. A reinvestigation in July 2002 found the nursing home continued to pay workers straight time for overtime hours worked. Consequently, the Labor Department filed suit Aug. 4, 2003, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Without admitting liability, the defendants agreed to entry of a judgment that prohibits future violations of the FLSA and requires them to pay $72,325 in back wages. The back wages, covering the period July 31, 1999 through Feb. 21, 2005, have been paid. The judgment was signed by U.S. District Judge Edward F. Harrington on May 18, 2005.

“This action,” said Surett, “demonstrates that we will take every possible action under the law to make sure that employees are paid properly by their employers for all of the hours they work.”

The Labor Department’s legal action followed an investigation by the Boston district office of the Wage and Hour Division. For more information on federal overtime pay requirements or other provisions of the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the Boston District Office at 617-624-6700. Information is also available on the Internet at: www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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