Physical Therapist Overtime Pay in Tampa

ARE OTHER THERAPIST POSITIONS EXEMPT?

If you work in health care involving physical therapy, you may wonder if physical therapists or physical therapy assistants are exempt from overtime. Usually, the answer is no. What about related therapy positions like occupational therapists or speech therapists? The same is true. Usually, these positions are not exempt and thus must be paid overtime. If you worked overtime and were not paid, your employer may be in violation of the law, and you are eligible to take legal action to obtain the pay you are owed. Learn more about physical therapist overtime pay in Tampa by scheduling a consultation with one of our knowledgeable unpaid overtime attorneys.

WHAT ABOUT SUPERVISORS? CAN THEY EARN OVERTIME PAY?

In short, yes. While your employer may be telling you otherwise, if you are a Program Manager or Director of Rehabilitation and are paid hourly, you must receive overtime pay for any work you perform beyond the 40-hour workweek. This includes time worked while on call or any work that may have been performed at home to finish tasks not completed at the workplace.

Holding a supervisory position does not necessarily mean you are exempt from getting paid for the overtime hours you worked in a physical therapist’s office.

ARE THERAPISTS FLSA EXEMPT?

If you hold a therapist position and know a bit about regulations related to overtime pay, you may know the federal rules covering overtime include the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Perhaps you understand FLSA rules, generally; you are likely aware that employment law can be complex. You may wonder if therapists are FLSA exempt. Usually, therapist positions, such as physical therapists or occupational therapists, are not FLSA exempt.

Generally, the below positions are not exempt from overtime pay:

• Physical Therapists (PT)
• Physical Therapy Assistants (PTA)
• Occupational Therapists (OT)
• Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTA)
• Speech Language Pathologists (SLP)
• Directors of Rehabilitation (DOR)
• Program Manager (PM)

FELDMAN LEGAL GROUP PROTECTS WORKERS’ RIGHTS IN CLASS AND COLLECTIVE ACTION CASES

FIGHTING FOR EMPLOYEES HOLDING POSITIONS IN THERAPY, LONG-TERM HEALTH CARE AND POST-ACUTE CARE

Our Tampa physical therapist overtime pay attorneys at Feldman Legal Group are taking on employers in three separate class and collective legal actions in the therapy, long-term health care and post-acute care industries. We are unafraid to aggressively seek justice for employees who worked overtime hours but were never paid. Our current cases are against two of the largest therapy providers in the country: Reliant Rehab and Select Rehabilitation. Did you work overtime without pay for either company? If yes, call our attorney today to learn how you can join our pending case.

If you are a worker in physical, occupational or speech therapy, or long-term health care, or post-acute care, you may be able to join the current legal action.

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE FELDMAN LEGAL GROUP

GET THE OVERTIME PAY YOU DESERVE

THERE ARE NO UP-FRONT LEGAL FEES

You worked those long hours. You deserve pay for every minute you worked. We’ll make an aggressive legal case on your behalf to pursue that pay. Our Tampa physical therapist overtime pay lawyers understand that some therapists and other workers at rehab facilities are apprehensive about taking legal action. They may worry the laws are too complex or wonder if they have a case. They may worry their employer will find out about the lawsuit and demote or fire them.

You don’t have to worry. Our experienced team at Feldman Legal Group is on your side. We know how to take on employers in overtime wage lawsuits and win.

THERE IS NOTHING TO LOSE AND EVERYTHING TO GAIN

You can fight for your overtime pay, and you don’t have to pay any legal fees up front to do it. When an employment lawyer wins your case, attorney fees will be part of the settlement amount paid by the employer. Your legal battle has no cost to you. There are no fees you have to pay.

If you hold a non-exempt therapist position and were denied overtime, contact our Tampa physical therapist overtime pay attorneys now. Mitchell Feldman has led our team at Feldman Legal Group in many successful overtime cases. We are fighting for workers just like you in collective action cases. Find out if you are eligible to join those cases. Call us at 877-946-8293 and find out.

Contact Feldman Legal Now

ABOUT OUR CURRENT CASES INVOLVING UNPAID OVERTIME

WE REPRESENT THERAPISTS, PROGRAM MANAGERS AND DIRECTORS OF REHABILITATION

Some employers in the rehab care industry frequently violate employment laws, and, even worse, they knowingly break the law and proceed anyhow. There are instances where employers simply don’t understand the laws related to who is or is not exempt from overtime pay. This lack of knowledge does not mean they don’t violate the law, however.

Our physical therapist overtime pay lawyers in Tampa are ready to fight for employees in the rehab, long-term health care and post-acute care industries. While we have current cases involving two rehabilitation companies, Select Rehabilitation and Reliant Rehab, there are many more that may have violated state and federal laws regarding overtime pay.

Here are the companies against which we are prepared to take legal action:

• Aegis Therapies
• ATI Physical Therapy
• Athletico Physical Therapy
• CORA Health Services
• Encompass Health
• Genesis Healthcare
• PT Solutions
• Pivot Physical Therapy
• Professional Physical Therapy
• Reliant Pro Rehab
• Reliant Rehab
• Renewal Rehab
• Select Medical / Physiotherapy Associates
• Select Rehab
• U.S. Physical Therapy
• Upstream Rehabilitation / Drayer Physical Therapy

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE TO JOIN OUR CLASS AND COLLECTIVE ACTION CASES?

You may be eligible to join our pending cases if the below list describes your pay structure, your position and the overtime you worked:

• You are an hourly paid employee working for any of these companies.
• You are now or were at one time within the preceding three years a Director of Rehab (DOR) or Program Manager (PM).
• You suffered to work on weekends, work on call, or work any hours of unpaid overtime as required of the job or your employer.

If the above fits your current or past employment with one of the Rehab or Healthcare providers in our list, call our team now. Talk to our physical therapist overtime pay attorneys in Tampa to find out how we can help you. We can explain your legal options in terms of when you can claim overtime and how far back you can claim overtime. Depending on how much overtime pay you are owed, and the details of your case, you may win an award far larger than you think.

For some PMs or DORs, this may be hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages with double and triple the wages owed. This is life- changing money.

PRODUCTIVITY REQUIREMENTS: A SCHEME THAT IS THEFT OF THE WORST KIND

When your employer doesn’t pay you for all the hours you worked, they earn higher profits and unjustly take wages that are rightfully yours. Some companies have an unlawful scheme that builds in a framework to deny paying overtime: it is called a “productivity requirement.” With this workplace structure, when a therapist records and claims their overtime hours worked, the result is the therapist fails the “productivity requirement.” These scheming companies establish a requirement that there is a specific number a therapist cannot exceed for hours worked relative to the hours of therapy that were billed.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION WHEN PRODUCTIVITY REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT MET

If a therapist reports hours worked that causes the ratio percentage of hours worked to hours billed to be too high, an employer may unjustly subject the therapist to disciplinary action, including termination of employment. By holding the threat of job loss over the heads of workers, companies strong-arm them into not reporting any overtime hours. In the current cases we are now fighting, Select Rehabilitation and Reliant Rehab discouraged reporting of overtime hours and encouraged off the clock work. Why? To make more profit. By instituting this practice of forcing employees to do overtime work without pay, they could maximize their Medicare billing and billing of any other recipients of services and increase their profits by millions of dollars.

Worse still, when these companies punish employees for reporting overtime hours worked, they practice a form of retaliation that is unlawful. If you are or were a worker for one of these companies and felt you couldn’t report overtime, that extra profit is your hard-earned wages. It is the sweat of your effort that allows these companies to line their pockets. You deserve all of your overtime earnings, and you deserve justice for the wrongs forced upon you.

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR OVERTIME PAY FOR THERAPIST-RELATED JOBS?

Any therapist or related position that is eligible for overtime pay does not need authorization to work overtime. FLSA rules are simple: If a therapist works more than 40 hours in a week, they must receive one-and-a-half times the original rate of pay. The Department of Labor (DOL) provides general information about overtime pay. In addition, the DOL provides Fact Sheets further explaining the FLSA rules about overtime pay requirements and rules specific to hours worked in the healthcare industry.

If your employer didn’t fully understand the laws governing overtime, perhaps they think they can evade having to pay back wages earned. This is not true. There is no excuse for not paying the overtime wages you earned. In a legal case, we will pursue every penny you are owed for time- and- a- half overtime pay. Typically, your award in such a case will be more than just the overtime pay.

WHEN AN EMPLOYER CLAIMS REHAB STAFF WORKED UNAUTHORIZED HOURS

If an employer knows or has reason to believe that an employee did work beyond 40 hours in a work week, that employee must be paid. The DOL provides a few examples of when a supervisor knows a health care worker put in overtime but claims overtime should not be paid because that work time was not authorized. If work was “suffered or permitted” it must be paid, per 29 CFR 785.11.

Simply put, an employer cannot deny this pay by saying the work was not authorized.

DO YOU HOLD A THERAPIST POSITION AND WERE DENIED OVERTIME PAY?

If you hold one of the therapist or supervisory positions we list above and your employer refused to pay you overtime for hours worked past a 40-hour work week, they are in violation of the law. You should be paid time- and- a- half for those overtime hours. If you were denied the overtime pay you earned, your employer has likely broken state and federal labor laws, and violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

OUR EXPERIENCED TEAM IN TAMPA IS READY TO GET PHYSICAL THERAPISTS THE OVERTIME PAY THEY DESERVE

With over two decades of experience in civil litigation, the Feldman Legal Group has proven proficiency in representing clients to obtain them full compensation for damages. Our physical therapist overtime pay attorneys in Tampa help individuals in employment litigation, including large and complex class and collective actions. We handle cases involving overtime violations, wrongful termination, discrimination, and other employment legal claims. We also help whistleblowers seek justice. Our attorneys serve clients in Florida, Georgia and nationwide. We seek justice for workers.

You have a right to receive all of the pay you earned. Let our attorneys at Feldman Legal Group get justice for you. Call us today at (877) 946-8293.