A Spartanburg home healthcare provider will have to pay $139,975 in back wages after the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) found that they failed to pay employees’ overtime. The company involved is Apella Health Management, which operates as the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.
Details are emerging about the specifics of the violations incurred by this healthcare provider. According to a news release, DOL revealed that Apella Health Management, operating as Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, did not pay 29 employees wages for working overtime, along with violating federal regulations of paying proper wages.
Upon close investigation, several concerning practices at the company were uncovered. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the company had placed a number of occupational therapy and physical therapy assistants as overtime exempt, according to the media release. The report revealed that the employees in question were compensated on a per-visit rate despite not meeting the duties test for learned professionals. The investigation found that Apella Health violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying the additional half-time rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employees in question also did not have their hours recorded by the company.
The Wage and Hour Division District Director has directly commented on these findings. Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel said Apella Health had wrongfully listed the employees as "learned professionals."
The Director expanded on his statement during a press conference. "To use the ‘learned professional employee’ overtime exemption, employers must meet several criteria and cannot apply them randomly," said Benefiel during a press conference in Columbia, South Carolina. "The Department of Labor is determined to protect rights of the nation’s care workers, people who provide vital services to those in need and who deserve to be paid all of their legal wages and benefits in return for their hard work."
It's worth noting that this case is not isolated but part of a larger initiative. The DOL conducted over 1,100 investigations in healthcare industries for fiscal year 2022 that resulted in roughly $15 million in back wages for more than 22,000 workers.
The investigation also yielded information about the origins and size of Apella Health Management. In 2018, Apella Health Management, a non-profit management company, became a subsidiary of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, according to a news release. The company employs 10,000 people in 157 locations throughout northern South Carolina.
