Nurses constitute the largest workforce in the public healthcare system and play a critical role in the healthcare system’s shift from illness-focused to person-centered and health-promoting. Over the past three years, many nurses have incorporated travel nursing into their career paths. Hospital systems turn to contingent workforces, such as travel nurses, to address gaps in vacancies while often simultaneously engaging in unfair labor practices and wage violations. These troubling employment practices shed light on the inequities that many critical healthcare professionals face.
Nurses who believe that their employer engaged in illegal or unethical employment practices should reach out to an experienced employment law attorney for assistance.
Does the FLSA Apply to Nurses?
Hospitals and other healthcare entities must comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA and state law requires that employers pay their qualifying employees the current minimum wage rate. When an employee is subject to state and federal minimum wage laws, the law entitles the employee to secure the higher of the two rates. In addition, the FLSA requires that employers pay their employees overtime pay at not less than time and one-half of the regular law rate of pay. However, certain employees, such as nurses, may be subject to the FLSA minimum wage and overtime pay exemptions.
Healthcare entities often classify their nurse employees under the “learned professional” exemption. Employees who use this exemption to avoid paying their staff overtime must meet several requirements. In many cases, registered nurses paid hourly should receive overtime pay. However, qualifying nurses paid on a salary basis of at least $684 per week may meet the exemption requirements. Despite these rules, there have been inconsistent results in FLSA violation lawsuits against healthcare institutions.
What Are the Common FLSA Violations Nurses Face?
Nurses and travel nurses alike face unique employment issues that often turn on complex federal and state regulations.
Rounding Hours
Employers may track their employee’s hours in 15 minute increments. However, the FLSA permits employers to round an employee’s time to the nearest quarter hour. Nurses may have an FLSA violation claim if their employer continually rounds down.
Travel Time
The time spent by an employee traveling as part of their principal activity must be calculated as hours worked. For instance, employers must include the time an employee takes to travel between facilities or units. Employers who fail to include this time may be in violation of the FLSA.
Training and Seminars
Employees’ attendance at lectures, meetings, or training programs must be counted toward work hours. However, an employer can refute FLSA violation claims if they establish that the attendance is outside of the employee’s typical working hours, the attendance was voluntary, the event is not directly related to the employee’s job, and the employee does not perform productive work during the event.
Meal Breaks
Employers who deduct a bona fide meal break, at least 30 minutes or more, can only do so if the employee is completely relieved of all work duties.
Unauthorized Hours
Employers cannot thwart responsibility for overtime by claiming that they did not authorize the employee to work overtime if the employer “suffered or permitted’ the employee to continue to work. For example, suppose a director of nursing knows that a nurse is staying beyond their work shift because the unit is short-staffed. In that case, the employee is entitled to overtime, even if the employee failed to get prior authorization.
Nurses face significant challenges bringing these claims because of the learned professional exemption. However, an employment attorney can help nurses understand their rights and remedies under the FLSA and related state laws.
Travel Nurses Face Employment Violations
The increase in travel nursing during the Covid-19 pandemic exposed many concerning employment practices that have existed since the industry’s birth. Employers who attract travel nurses with high wages are slashing wages at renewal time, leaving their employees, who are often far away from home, with little choice. However, in recent years travel nurses have been pushing back against these practices, which has led to a growing number of employment violation claims.
Employers’ “Take-it-or-Leave-it” Demands on Travel Nurses
Travel nurses may bring claims against their employers who engage in troubling “take-it-or-leave-it” demands. These cases often involve situations where the employer demands the travel nurse accept less pay or face termination. In many cases, nurses are left with little recourse because of the various expenses they incur in traveling, securing housing, and uprooting their lives.
Employers who knowingly engage in these “bait-and-switch” employment practices to maintain their financial gains may be liable for their employees' expenses and losses.
How Can Nurses Recover the Wages They Are Owed?
Nurses who believe that an employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act may be able to pursue a wage and hour employment law claim against their employer. Often, but not always, large healthcare organizations treat all nurses similarly. Thus, all nurses employed by a healthcare company may be able to join in a class action lawsuit in hopes of obtaining the compensation they’ve earned but not yet been paid.
