An Ohio-based petroleum refinery has paid $969,182 in back wages to 173 workers after the Department of Labor accused the company of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime rules after switching the employees to a 12-hour shift.
The department alleged the violations began when the Husky Energy Corp. changed from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts for some of its workers, resulting in alternating workweeks of 60 and 24 hours. According to the department, the company allegedly established an “adjusted” rate whereby all these hours were compensated at the same rate, instead of paying time and one-half an employee’s regular rate for the resulting overtime hours.
The company was also accused of failing to include a shift differential in overtime pay calculations. An employer is not required by law to provide a shift differential, but if one is paid, then it must be included as part of the employee’s regular rate of pay for purposes of computing overtime. (workersxzcompxzkit)
Husky Energy Corp. agreed to pay the $969,182 in back wages to its employees and to establish bona fide rates upon which time and one-half for overtime hours would be calculated in the future. The company also agreed to include the shift differentials in the regular rate for purposes of calculating overtime in the future.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers' Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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