Home Economy Economic Activity Department of Labor recovers $1.9M for 853 Care New England workers denied...

Department of Labor recovers $1.9M for 853 Care New England workers denied OT compensation

By

Katie Castellani

-

01/03/2025

Kent-hospital — THE U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday it recovered $1.9 million in back wages and damages for hundreds of health care workers at Care New England Health System who had to work through breaks but were not paid properly./COURTESY OF CARE NEW ENGLAND HEALTH SYSTEM.

PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday it recovered $1.9 million in back wages and damages for hundreds of health care workers at Care New England Health System who had to work through breaks but were not paid properly. The Hartford District Office of the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Kent

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PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Labor announced Friday it recovered $1.9 million in back wages and damages for hundreds of health care workers at Care New England Health System who had to work through breaks but were not paid properly. The Hartford District Office of the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Kent Hospital automatically deducted 30-minute breaks from hours employees worked, even though the employees couldn’t take those breaks because of staffing needs. The investigation showed 853 workers in the emergency room and other departments had worked more than 40 hours in a week, but weren’t compensated properly when they worked through breaks. “The Wage and Hour Division is eager to return the $1.9 million in wages and liquidated damages we recovered to the workers who put their needs second and delivered essential care to the many people in Rhode Island who suffered during the pandemic,” said Wage and Hour administrator Jessica Looman. “An administrative resolution like this allows affected workers to collect their hard-earned wages promptly.” Kent Hospital and Care New England paid the department $100,000 in civil penalties given the “willful nature of the violations.” Also, as part of the settlement, which covers July 30, 2019 through Dec. 31, 2022, Kent Hospital has made changes to timekeeping practices and agreed to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The hospital’s past policy required employees to notify their manager if they worked through a break and then the hospital would manually add the meal break time into the payroll system. In 2023 the health system automated this process to ensure meal breaks are recorded appropriately, said Care New England spokesperson Raina Smith. Now, employees should personally verify if they took a meal break or should receive payment for that time and this information is automatically entered into the payroll system. “Kent Hospital is fully committed to ensuring that our employees receive a meal break or payment if they work through the break,” Smith said. Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.