US Department of Labor Finds Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center Manipulated Employee Timecards. Failed to Pay Overtime.
Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center, whose CEO is Indian-American Sajit Pullarkat, required workers to complete necessary paperwork without pay after their daily shifts ended also manipulated employee time cards to avoid paying overtime, a federal investigation has found.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center – a subsidiary of Universal Health Services Inc. – violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees for all hours that they worked. The employer also willfully manipulated workers’ timecards in an attempt to avoid paying overtime by reducing the total number of work hours recorded.
Following the investigation, the division recovered $145,402 in back wages for 23 employees. The division also assessed Centennial with $19,090 in penalties for its willful violations and cited the employer for their failure to maintain accurate records of employees’ hours worked.
“Workers must be paid all of their hard-earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Higinio Ramos in Las Vegas. “Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center shortchanged their workers and made it more difficult for them to provide for themselves and their families. The employer also gained an unfair competitive advantage over law-abiding employers. Other employers should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to evaluate their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”
