Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia filed a lawsuit against two ambulance services accused of paying employees less than $7.25 per hour during workweeks of more than 40 hours.
Scalia filed the complaint on Dec. 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Saline County Ambulance Service Inc., Williamson County Ambulance Service Inc. and Rick Colyer, alleging they violated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 since at least Feb. 9, 2017.
According to the complaint, Colyer is the owner of the ambulance services and supervised the day-to-day operations and management of the defendants in relation to their employees. He allegedly supervised employees, determined pay practices and maintained the authority to hire and fire employees.
Scalia claims Colyer “repeatedly and willfully violated the provisions” of the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying employees a flat shift rate regardless of how many hours were worked. Specifically, Colyer allegedly failed to compensate dispatchers, EMTs and paramedics for all hours worked when their sleep bands were interrupted, which also resulted in less than eight hours of sleep at night.
“Employees’ weekly compensation divided by the weekly hours worked resulted in payment of an hourly wage less than the applicable minimum wage of $7.25 per hour,” the suit states.
Scalia also alleges employees worked more than 40 hours per week without proper compensation for their overtime work.
As employees were paid a flat salary regardless of hours worked, the suit alleges the defendants “failed to make, keep and preserve adequate and accurate records of the wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment maintained by them as prescribed by regulations duly issued.”
Specifically, the defendants failed to properly record dispatch calls received during designated sleep times, all hours worked and individual pay rates. They also allegedly failed to “distinguish regular rate earnings from overtime wages.”
Scalia seeks an order enjoining and restraining the defendants from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and from withholding payment of unpaid compensation. He also seeks an order finding the defendants liable for their employees’ unpaid compensation and for liquidated damages.
The lawsuit was filed through attorneys Brooke Worden and JoAnn Lim.