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O'Neal v. Intermedical Hospital of South Carolina6/2/2003
Heard March 12, 2003
AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART
In this wage payment dispute, the trial court trebled the jury's $1,350 award of damages to plaintiff Betty P. O'Neal and ordered defendant Intermedical Hospital of South Carolina (Intermedical) to pay O'Neal $8,100 in attorney's fees.á We affirm in part, and reverse in part.
FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
O'Neal became employed as a registered nurse for Intermedical on September 21, 1998.á O'Neal understood that her base pay was to be $18.36 per hour with "shift differential" pay of an additional $1.50 per hour for night shifts beginning after 11 p.m., and an additional $5.00 per hour for weekend shifts.á She further understood that she was required to work every other weekend. á
At some point in her employment, O'Neal began complaining to Teri Hooper, who was in charge of Intermedical's payroll, that she was not receiving the proper pay.á On March 31, 1999, O'Neal filed a claim against Intermedical with the Department of Labor for approximately $681.61 in wages owed.á Specifically, O'Neal asserted that between January 9, 1999 and March 20, 1999, Intermedical improperly withheld wages for 28.18 regular hours at $18.36 per hour, shift differential pay for 17 weekend hours at $5.00 per hour, and shift differential pay for 52.82 night hours at $1.50 per hour.á
After an investigation, the South Carolina Department of Labor determined Intermedical failed to comply with the provisions of South Carolina Code Ann. § 41-10-40(D) in that it failed to pay O'Neal $376.09 in wages in accordance with her regular pay schedule. á Nonetheless, the Department of Labor ultimately found that as of March 25, 1999, O'Neal had been paid all wages due to her and had in fact been overpaid by $110.77.á In August of 1999, the Department of Labor assessed a $375.00 penalty against the hospital for the late payment of wages.á
In April 1999, Virginia Herring, Intermedical's nurse manager, created, posted, and distributed copies of the nurses' working schedule for April 11 through May 9, 1999.á Herring scheduled O'Neal to work a number of shifts, including a shift beginning at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23, 1999.á By letter dated April 13, 1999, O'Neal complained to Herring that her regular working schedule of two eight hours shifts and two twelve hour shifts had been changed to five eight hour shifts without prior notice.á O'Neal also complained that in creating the schedule, Herring failed to consider a prior request for vacation and also improperly "split weekend again" by scheduling her to work on Friday, April 23.á
On April 14, Herring and O'Neal met to discuss the concerns O'Neal expressed in her April 13 letter; however, Herring and O'Neal dispute the content of the discussion.á According to Herring, the parties did not discuss the 11:00 p.m. April 23 shift during their meeting and Herring did not say or do anything during the discussion to give O'Neal the impression she would remove her from the schedule for April 23.á Herring further stated she informed O'Neal she could not guarantee the schedule O'Neal requested in her April 13 letter.á O'Neal, on the other hand, asserted, although she remained on the master schedule for April 23, Herring removed her from Herring's personal copy of the schedule and assured her she would "fix" it.á
O'Neal told a number of her co-workers that, although her name still appeared on the posted work schedule for the 11:00 shift on April 23, she would not be working that night because she had discussed the matter with Herring and had arranged to have the night off.á Based on information the other employees relayed to Herring abo
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