SCOTUS Denies AMN Appeal

Many of you have been watching the Clarke v AMN case regarding the payment of per diems by the hour. AMN had appealed the case to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS).

SCOTUS has declined to take the case leaving the 9th Circut Court of Appeals decision. This means that when an agency pays per diems on an hourly basis (or penalizes on the basis of hours worked), the per diem must be included in the calculation of overtime. For most healthcare travelers working in California that are paid OT after 8 hours each day, this can be significant.

To illustrate, say Traveler A is paid 20$/ hr taxable and 10$/hr per diems. When OT is paid it is based on $30/hr, not 20$/hr, when the per diems are paid on the basis of hours worked (or penalized by the same).