A Bingham Hills, Michigan-based healthcare staffing firm and its owner allegedly misclassified some 70 healthcare professionals including nurses as independent contractors, the US Department of Labor announced. The agency has filed a lawsuit against the company, Reliance Staffing, and its owner, Fahim Uddin.

The company allegedly failed to pay $90,765 in overtime because of the misclassification, the department reported. The 70 workers comprised registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants. The complaint seeks $181,531, representing back wages owed and an equal amount in liquidated damages. It’s also seeking an injunction forbidding Reliance Staffing from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.

“Independent contractors control their own work and are not economically dependent on one company for their livelihood,” Timolin Mitchell, Department of Labor Wage and Hour Midwest deputy regional administrator, said in a press release.

“In this case, Reliance Staffing clearly created schedules, assigned work tasks, set rules for the registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants, who performed work that was critical for their employer’s business," Mitchell said. “These factors, among others, make them employees.”

The lawsuit follows concerns in the healthcare staffing industry that companies are improperly classifying nurses as independent contractors. In August, a coalition of 30 staffing firms wrote the Department of Labor over concerns about the issue.