Greenville's Keystone found in violation of Fair Labor Standards
GREENVILLE, Pa. - The U.S. Department of Labor has ruled that a non-profit youth behavioral counseling facility in Mercer County failed to pay 80 of its employees to attend required meetings to get their paychecks.
According to labor officials, supervisors and behavior specialists were required to gather every two weeks at the Keystone Adolescent Center Inc.’s five Greenville facilities where they discussed policy changes, completed the required training, and reviewed safety procedures.
Keystone also used the gathering to distribute paychecks yet failed to pay 80 workers who attended these meetings and required training outside of their regular shifts for the time they spent at them, according to the Department of Labor.
Investigators determined that excluding the work time from employees’ pay violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and led to the recovery of $44,858 in back wages for the workers.
Investigators found that Keystone Adolescent paid employees for time spent at staff meetings and required training only if those meetings and training occurred during their scheduled shifts. The employer failed to pay workers attending outside of their normal work hours for the time they spent in those meetings and required training. Failing to record and pay for this time violated FLSA overtime and recordkeeping requirements.
“Employers must pay employees all the wages they legally earn, which includes paying them for any hours they work outside of their scheduled shifts,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh.
Keystone Adolescent paid the overtime wages owed to employees at five Greenville locations as follows:
Keystone Female Services, 95 South Race St.: $11,650 in back wages to 23 workers.
Keystone Education Center, 425 South Good Hope Road: $13,309 in back wages to 21 workers.
Keystone Transitional Living-Female, 95 South Race St.: $2,805 in back wages to five workers.
Keystone Adolescent Center, 60 South Race St.: $10,171 in back wages to 22 workers.
Keystone Transitional Living-Male, 52 Sharon Road: $6,923 in back wages to nine workers.
Keystone Adolescent Center Inc. provides community-based programs that offer behavior modification, therapeutic counseling, and educational opportunities for at-risk adolescents and provides 24-hour care and supervision for delinquent and dependent youth throughout western Pennsylvania.
