The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit revived an overtime payment suit against a residential care facility, determining that questions of fact remained if its employees knew about the facility’s break policies.
In a divided opinion on Tuesday, the federal appellate court ruling reversed the summary judgment motion in favor of Levering Regional Care Center and Reliant Care Management Co. in a suit brought by Vince Micone, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. The government alleged that Levering violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by deducting 30 minutes of pay every day from its employees for meal breaks, “even though it knew or should have known its employees routinely worked through those breaks.” The defendants argued that a temporary time sheet policy allowed employees to notify Levering when they worked through their lunch break.