A nursing care management company must now pay $3 million in overtime back wages.

The United States Department of Labor found that Peterson Health Care Inc., which is based in Peoria, failed to pay nurses the correct amount of overtime.

Because the employer wrongly assumed they weren't entitled to overtime pay.

“While residential healthcare workers at Petersen Health Care Inc. provided around-the-clock, daily living assistance and delivered essential care to people in need, they were subject to pay practices that underreported their hours of work and denied them the pay they were legally due.” said Wage and Hour Division Acting Administrator Jessica Looman. “The U.S. Department of Labor will ensure that workers who commit themselves to caring for others will receive the wages they earned so they can also take care of themselves and their families.”

This decision will impact 3,024 caregivers at 84 residential nursing care facilities across the midwest.