The manager of senior living communities in three Midwest states will pay 594 workers a total of $165,379 in back wages and damages as part of an agreement to resolve overtime violations at its 23 communities, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division announced Tuesday.
Indianapolis-based Ide Management Group, or IMG, operates facilities in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
According to the Labor Department, the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not including non-discretionary bonuses and shift-differentials paid to employees in its overtime rate calculations. The omission reportedly resulted in workers being paid less than they legally were owed.
“Failing to include shift differentials and bonuses — such as those paid for attendance and retention — when computing an employee’s regular rate of pay is a common overtime violation,” Regional Wage and Hour Division Administrator Karen Chaikin said in a statement. “We encourage all employers to take advantage of the division’s education and outreach efforts to help them understand their responsibilities and how to properly calculate overtime rates.”
In addition to paying the back wages and damages, Ide Management Group has hired a new payroll service and is using new software to ensure correct computation of pay rates in the future.
Among the company’s facilities:
- River Terrace Retirement Community in Bluffton, IN, which offers a continuum of care including independent living, assisted living, memory care and other levels of care (28 affected employees; $2,342);
- Countryside Health Care Center in Sioux City, IA, which offers independent living, rehab, skilled nursing, respite care and hospice care (10 affected employees; $812);
- Sigourney Health Care in Sigourney, IA, which offers assisted living, rehab, skilled nursing, respite care and hospice care (18 affected employees; $2,209); and
- Five additional communities that offer Alzheimer’s care among other levels of care: Warsaw Meadows in Warsaw, IN (47 affected employees, $6,848); Woodland Manor in Elkhart, IN (15 affected employees, $1,813); Yorktown Manor in Yorktown, IN (16 affected employees, $1,518); Paris Healthcare Center in Paris, IL (42 affected employees, $5,306); and Keota Health Care Center in Keota, IA (11 affected employees, $1,020).
IMG did not respond to McKnight’s Senior Living’s request for comment by the publication deadline.
