Employees in the medical industry work long hours caring for their patients, however they are frequently not paid what the law requires they be paid.  While some medical professionals, such as doctors, do not have to be paid overtime, the law mandates that most medical professionals should receive overtime. 

What are common violations in the medical industry?

Failing to pay for all hours an employee actually works. It seems like it should be common sense that employers must pay their employees for all the hours an employee works, but many employers do not.  For example, if a hospital requires its nurses to conduct a turn over meeting off the clock before his or her shift, that is compensable time for which the employee should be paid.  Likewise, if a hospital makes an automatic deduction every shift for a meal break but requires its nurses to work during that meal break, the employer has likely violated the law.

Misclassifying employees as ineligible for overtime.  There are strict requirements to classify an employee as exempt from receiving overtime and if an employer fails to pay overtime to an employee that is eligible to receive overtime, the employer has violated the law.  This is an area of law that is constantly changing to afford overtime protection to more and more employees.  Here are some examples of common wage violations and employees entitled to overtime under the law. 

Home Healthcare Workers. Most home health care workers are now entitled to receive overtime. After years of being denied overtime, the law has now changed to provide most home healthcare workers with overtime. You can read the Department of Labor’s guidance on this change in the law here.

Hourly Paid Physician Assistants. No matter what a physician assistant’s hourly rate might be, he or she is most likely entitled to receive overtime. Recently, two different courts found that hourly paid physician assistants are entitled to overtime.

X-Ray Technicians. Many employers classify X-Ray Technicians as ineligible for overtime.  However, just because X-Ray Technicians have to have extensive training and schooling to become certified does not mean that they are not entitled to overtime.  You can read the Department of Labor’s opinion letter on X-Ray Technicians here.