Do you get overtime pay at time and a half?? you should if you are not on a salary!

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Federal Court Finds in Favor of PA Overtime Pay

 

 

Terms:Legal, Pennsylvania, Reimbursement

 

 

A federal district court this month found in favor of physician assistant plaintiff, Charles E. Cuttic, who alleged that his employer, Crozer Chester Medical Center (CCMC) in Chester, Pennsylvania, should have been paying him time-and-a-half overtime for extra hours he has worked there over the past 15 years.

Cuttic, who works in cardiothoracic surgery, argued in court that his employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not compensating him at a rate of one-and-a half times his regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours per week. During his 15 years as a CCMC employee, Cuttic has been compensated on an hourly basis, "accordingly, his wages are wholly dependent upon how much time (he) works," according to the court memorandum, Civil Action No. 09-1461. The PA was never paid on a "salary" or "fee" basis and never received overtime compensation.

The FLSA requires that employees receive overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours per work week and the overtime pay must be at least one-and-one-half times the regular rate of pay. An employee can be considered "professional" and exempt from the FLSA overtime rules if the individual is:

• employed "in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity," and
  
• compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than $455 per week, and
  
• performing work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction
  

There was no dispute between plaintiff and defendant about whether Cuttic was paid on an hourly — not salary or fee — basis. The defendant argued that Cuttic was exempt from FLSA overtime requirements under another definition of "professional" found in the FLSA regulations, Section 541.304, an exemption for employees who hold a valid license or certificate permitting the "practice of law or medicine. "

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has consistently interpreted the regulations to require that a PA has to satisfy both the duties and the salary/fee test in order to be exempt from FLSA overtime requirements and does not qualify as a professional under the "practice of medicine" definition.

There is limited law on the question of whether PAs are exempt from FLSA under section 541.304. The Fifth Circuit Court, the only circuit to consider the matter, in Belt vs. EmCare, "deferred to the DOL's interpretative statements and found that PAs and NPs do not qualify under the "practice of medicine" exemption.

The January 4, 2011, memorandum from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania concludes, "In deferring to the DOL's interpretive statements, the Court holds that PAs are not included in the salary-basis exemption found in section 541.304" (practice of medicine), and "will grant summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff and deny summary judgment as to Defendant. An appropriate Order will follow." For further information on FLSA, check FLSA page on the AAPA web site, or contact Ellen Rathfon, AAPA Senior Director of Professional Advocacy, at ellen@aapa.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .