Mississippi Healthcare Provider to Pay $147,622 in Wages After U.S. Department of Labor Finds Overtime Violations

PICAYUNE, MS – Maxem Health Urgent Care will pay $147,622 in wages to 16 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the operator of two Mississippi health care facilities violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators determined the employer – which operates Picayune Urgent Care Clinic LLC in Picayune, and Petal Urgent Care LLC in Petal – incorrectly classified nurse practitioners as independent contractors instead of employees and subsequently paid them at straight-time rates for all hours they worked, including when they worked more than 40 hours per week and were legally due overtime.

The employer also failed to combine the hours individual employees worked at both locations during the same workweek when determining when overtime was due. Maxem Health Urgent Care also deducted time from employees’ timecards for meal breaks even when they worked through those breaks. Those timekeeping practices led to overtime violations when the employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but the employer failed to pay overtime. Additionally, the employer failed to maintain accurate time and payroll records, as required by the FLSA.

“Employers are required to pay their employees the wages they have legally earned for all the hours that they have worked,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall, in Jackson, Mississippi. “The Jackson Wage and Hour Division office is available to assist any employers in understanding their obligations. Violations like those found in this case 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 WHD, 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 Fair Labor Standards Act. 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.