South Carolina Ambulance Service Pays $212,493 in Wages To Employees to Resolve Federal Overtime Violations

HANAHAN, SC – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), MedTrust Medical Transport LLC – a private ambulance service provider based in Hanahan, South Carolina –  has paid $212,493 in back wages to 89 employees for violating overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators found MedTrust Medical Transport LLC – operating as MedTrust Ambulance Services –applied an exemption from the FLSA’s overtime requirements incorrectly to many employees that the employer paid fixed salaries every biweekly pay period. Employees worked alternating work weeks of 48 and 72 hours, and the employer did not pay overtime due to the misapplied exemption. WHD found the employees’ schedules did not meet the criteria for the exemption to apply, and that the employer owed overtime for any hours employees worked over 40 in a workweek.

“Guaranteed payments that are meant to include regular and overtime pay often fail to comply with the law and can result in significant back wage liabilities,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel, in Columbia, South Carolina. “The U.S. Department of Labor encourages all employers to reach out to us for information on how to comply with the law. These mistakes can be avoided.”

The Department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, confidential calls, or in-person visits to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the Nation's workforce. WHD enforces Federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the FLSA. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to Federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.