Hospital investigated for improper wage payment

PALMER -- Valley Hospital recently sent out checks for payment of back wages to several employees, in response to an ongoing Department of Labor investigation of their non-union pay practices.

The hospital was accused of not paying proper overtime wages to employees who worked more than 40 hours per week.

The Department was informed of the mispractice by a former employee of Valley Hospital who was underpaid for overtime hours. The investigation they conducted resulted in Valley Hospital mailing four checks totaling more than $7,500 to four employees and former employees for belated payment of wages.

Mike Shimizu, Public Relations officer for the Department of Labor, confirmed that an investigation is still continuing, but could not reveal any details out of fairness for both the company and its employees. According to Elizabeth Ripley, spokeswoman for Valley Hospital, however, the Department conducted an investigation including review of every salaried employee for overtime exemption.

"The DOL found that four employees of our 570 were misclassified as salary exempt," Ripley said. "We complied with their recommendation and issued a back payment of overtime wages for a total of four employees for a two-year time period."

Specifically, the hospital was found to have not complied with the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938, which states that no employee shall take on a work week longer than 40 hours "unless such employee receives compensation for his employment in excess of the hours above specified at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate at which he is employed."

A former Valley Hospital employee, who asked to remain anonymous, claims that last year she was part of a two-person working team earning wages on an hourly basis at the hospital. When her partner was fired, she was expected to take on the additional duties -- without working overtime. In order to keep her job, she was thus forced to work more hours without pay. "My boss didn't mind me working overtime, as long as I didn't claim it," she recalled in an interview Thursday.

"There were many days when I would come to work for 10 to 12 hours and only be paid for eight, and my boss knew about it," she continued. When she complained to her supervisor, she was placed on salary with a six cent an hour raise, but still received no money for overtime work.

The anonymous employee stopped working for the hospital soon afterward in an incident unrelated to her salary woes. However, after leaving the hospital, this employee filed a complaint with the Department of Labor that resulted in the current investigation. Last week, she was mailed a check by the hospital.

Sue Harper, another former hospital employee who received a check last week, worked as an hourly employee for six years, and was also moved into a salaried position with a minimal raise when one of her partners was fired. "Basically, I was doing two people's jobs," she said. "I worked 60- to 70-hour weeks -- days, nights, weekends, all the time. But I didn't have a choice. If I didn't work, I was going to lose my job."

Harper is glad that the hospital has been called to account for its practices. "It's wrong of employers to take advantage of their employees like that," she said. "It's illegal."

Daniel Spoth can be contacted at daniel.spoth@frontiersman.com.