DETROIT —  Two Detroit area residential care facilities operated by Beaumont Health will pay $400,007 in back wages to 476 employees after investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime and record keeping provisions.

Federal investigators found that 283 employees at Beaumont Commons in Dearborn were owed $250,659 in back wages and 193 employees at Botsford Commons in Farmington Hills were due $149,348.

Beaumont Health had been automatically deducting time for meal breaks from employee’s recorded work time even when employees were unable to take breaks. This resulted in unpaid work hours and overtime violations when employees worked more than 40 hours in a work week.

Beaumont reportedly cooperated with WHD during its investigation and made corrections to its enterprise-wide system to ensure employees were paid for all hours worked.

“Employers are responsible for ensuring that they pay all employees the wages they have legally earned, and for keeping accurate records of the number of hours they work,” Detroit Wage and Hour District Director Timolin Mitchell said in a statement.

“We encourage employers to contact us for guidance, and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to help them fully understand their responsibilities,” he added. “Violations like those found in this case can be avoided.”