- Topics
- Links
Healthcare Employers Hit by Wage and Hour Claim Pandemic
October 6, 2010
Posted by Shanti Atkins
Last week I blogged about the increased risk of wage and hour class actions for employers. The stakes are even higher for healthcare employers. Wage and hour class actions targeting hospitals and other healthcare employers have literally exploded over the past several years, increasing by 35 percent between 2008 and 2009 alone. That number is expected to double this year.
Facing a literal wage and hour claim pandemic, an ELT survey shows that healthcare employers are taking proactive steps to prevent their organization from getting caught in this escalating litigation landmine. According to the recent survey of several hundred senior legal and HR healthcare professionals, two-thirds of respondents considered wage and hour issues to be their number one employment law risk. Accordingly, 75 percent of respondents indicated that despite the troubled economy, their organization has increased its 2010 spend on wage and hour compliance.
According to the DOL, more than 64 percent of healthcare employers are out of compliance with federal and state wage and hour laws. The DOL hired hundreds of additional investigators that are tasked with closely examining the pay practices surrounding overtime, off-the-clock work, meal and rest breaks, and auto-deduction at hundreds of healthcare employers around the country.
Adding to the risk, wage and hour lawsuits have become a strong focus for the plaintiff's bar. Law firm-run websites, like hospitalovertime.com, aggressively solicit healthcare employees, allowing them to join a class action with a click of a mouse. With huge wage and hour class action settlements, averaging $23.5M at the federal level and $24.4M at the state level, these kinds of lawsuits are devastating to healthcare organizations. And remember, most of the money from these class actions goes straight into the pockets of attorneys while the class participants can receive as little as a few hundred dollars.
Healthcare employers can protect themselves from wage and hour claims by proactively training their workforce on wage and hour compliance. Not surprisingly, 65 percent of ELT's survey respondents have, or are planning to implement a wage and hour training course over the next year. These savvy healthcare employers are using training not only to help prevent wage and hour issues in the first place, but to arm their organization with powerful legal defenses in case of litigation. Wage and hour training can help to reduce damage awards by as much as 66 percent.
ELT's all-new online Healthcare Wage & Hour course is dedicated to the unique needs and risks of the healthcare industry. Focusing on healthcare-specific scenarios, the program translates critical wage and hour issues into real-life stories that employees will understand and remember. Full-motion video storylines and interactive exercises bring lessons to life and capture learners' attention.
Don't let your healthcare organization become hosptialovertime.com's next target - establish powerful legal defenses through proper polices and engaging, interactive wage and hour training.
