As a Labor attorney, I have been receiving calls from visiting nurses who have not been paid overtime. Some Temp agencies are exploiting nurses and over billing hospitals for overtime -- overtime pay that never reaches the hands of the nurses!
The nurses are paid hourly, but are not paid 1.5 times their hourly rate if they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. Assuming the nurses are not supervising 2 or more full-time employees, these nurses should be paid their overtime. Under federal law, if an attorney represents their interests, they can also receive DOUBLE actual overtime wages plus attorneys fees. When an employee tries to collect on her own, most temp agencies jump to pay off the employee (for just the actual unpaid OT) BEFORE the nurse hires an attorney. This way the temp agency gets off cheap -- no "double damages" or attorneys fees.
Big mistake for the nurse. For example, if the nurse worked 5 hours overtime (drive time between patient visits on the same day can add up) and she did that for 2 years for 50 weeks a year she would have worked 500 hours OT for 2 years. If her hourly rate is $30.00, her OT rate is $45.00.
If the temp agency only paid her $30 for those 5 hours of OT, the temp agency would still owe her $15 an hour. $15 an hour x 500 hours= $7500 for 2 years. However, if a complaint is pursued with an attorney the nurse could seek an ADDITIONAL $7500 for "liquidated" or double damages plus have her attorneys fees paid for. The attorney would also have more clout in securing a settlement with an employer than the employee would have on her own.
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