Southeastern owed overtime pay to 18 employees

A Sioux Falls mental health care provider has paid almost $10,000 in back wages and damages following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Southeastern Behavioral Health owed overtime pay to 18 employees for their work with a mobile crisis team that supports county law enforcement.

“The employers were very cooperative and immediately came into compliance,” Scott Allen, spokesman for the department's Wage and Hour Division, said in an email.

“$4,842.63 in back wages was recovered for 18 employees and an equal amount in liquidated damages.”

The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing federal workplace laws, including minimum wage, child labor, overtime pay and record keeping of hours worked. The office investigates employers to determine whether workers are being properly paid under the law.

The investigation centered on on-call mental health counselors working with the county’s mobile crisis team. Southeastern treated them as independent contractors when they worked for the county’s mobile crisis team.

Investigators determined workers were shortchanged a total of $4,842 and owed an equal amount in damages.

A call Monday to Southeastern Behavioral Healthcare CEO Kris Graham was not immediately returned.