The panel: Judges Baldock (CA6), Berzon, and Collins, with Judge Berzon writing the opinion.
Key highlight: “AMN’s explanation for the payments made to local clinicians that providing per diems to local clinicians encourages them to work the required hours applies equally to travelling clinicians, and confirms that the payments do function as compensation namely, as a bonus for good work attendance. The comparison to local clinicians’ payments is an exceedingly strong indication that the per diem payments made to both groups of clinicians function as compensation for labor.”
Background: Plaintiffs Verna Clarke and Laura Wittman worked for AMN Services, a healthcare staffing company that placed nurses and technicians in various short-term assignments, some of which required travel away from their homes. Clarke and Wittman were paid both hour an hourly wage and a “per diem” derived from the federal reimbursement rates for meals, lodging, and incidentals. AMN g