U.S. Department of Labor Announces Settlement With Rhode Island Hospital

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced in a press release on January 3 that it had entered into a settlement with Rhode Island-based Kent Hospital and Care New England Health System to recover a total of $1.9 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 853 healthcare workers who had to work through their breaks but were not appropriately paid during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the news release, the Hartford District Office of the department's Wage and Hour Division found that Rhode Island's second-largest hospital, Kent County Memorial Hospital in Warwick, automatically deducted 30-minute breaks from employees' hours even though staffing needs kept them from taking those breaks. The division found employees in the emergency room and other departments worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but weren't adequately compensated.

"The Wage and Hour Division is eager to return the $1.9 million in wages and liquidated damages we recovered to the workers who put their needs second and delivered essential care to the many people in Rhode Island who suffered during the pandemic," said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman in a statement.

Given the willful nature of the violations, the division recovered $100,000 in civil money penalties from Kent Hospital and Care New England Health System. 

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 2,376 investigations in healthcare industries in the fiscal year of 2024. These investigations recovered over $37 million in back wages for nearly 30,000 workers nationwide.