PITTSBURGH — Pressley Ridge is a 171-year-old nonprofit organization and recognized leader in children’s mental health and social services treatment. It provides residential treatment, foster care, educational services, and community-based services to more than 1,200 children and families daily. It has offices in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia and Lisbon, Portugal.

On November 1, 2002, Pressley Ridge voluntarily changed its pay practices applicable to its Residential Treatment Model to be more reflective of the evolving therapeutic treatment and staffing needs. This meant that the compensation for the full-time Teacher/Counselors shifted from salaried to a 40-hour work week with overtime compensation being paid for hours worked exceeding 40.

Since then, Pressley Ridge has been cooperating with the U.S. Department of Labor which was conducting an investigation under the Fair Labor Standards Act of the pay of certain groups of Pressley Ridge’s Teacher/Counselors. Pressley Ridge has agreed to a settlement of the issue to bring closure and because it believes that it is the right thing to do for its organization.