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U.S. Department of Labor obtains judgment to recover $9.3 million in back wages, damages

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The U.S. Department of Labor said it has obtained a consent judgment that will recover $9.3 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 1,756 employees of a Philadelphia health-care staffing company that “misclassified them and willfully denied their hard-earned overtime pay.”

Obtained by the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia on Sept. 26, the judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania requires U.S. Medical Staffing Inc. to pay $4,650,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, and a civil money penalty of $700,000 for the willful nature of its violations. The action follows a complaint the department filed on Sept. 2.

U.S. Medical Staffing Inc. provides mental health, behavioral health and school staffing to clients throughout Pennsylvania in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton and Philadelphia counties.

“This consent judgment makes clear to all health care industry employers that just like U.S. Medical Staffing, they will be held accountable when they fail to pay employees their legally earned wages,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “The U.S. Department of Labor is prepared to use every tool available, including litigation, to prevent employers from violating workers’ rights.”

The judgment follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found – from at least Sept. 24, 2017, through at least May 22, 2022 – the employer willfully denied the affected employees their overtime pay.


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