U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Duke University Health System Reinstating and Paying Lost Wages to Employee

DURHAM, NC – Duke Patient Revenue Management Organization - operating as Duke University Health System - has paid an employee $9,066 in lost wages and reinstated the employee after a U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

WHD investigators found Duke Patient Revenue Management Organization failed to approve the employee’s leave request for an FMLA-covered health condition, and later penalized the employee and terminated the employee for being tardy on multiple occasions due to that condition.

“The Family and Medical Leave Act allows for critically needed workplace flexibility precisely when employees need it the most,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock, in Raleigh. “The Wage Hour Division is committed to enforcing the law and educating employers to ensure employees are not prevented from exercising their FMLA rights.”

For more information about the FMLA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd.