The US Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent judgment requiring a Philadelphia-based home care services provider to pay 66 home health aides $129,697 in back wages and damages after investigations and litigation confirmed the employer willfully denied them overtime pay. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered the judgment on July 10, 2024, and directed Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. to pay back wages and liquidated damages to the affected employees, who provide home care as assigned by the company’s Philadelphia and Dover, Delaware, locations. The court also required Blue Ridge to pay $49,434 in civil money penalties to the department for its violations. Prior to the judgment, the employer paid $100,000 in back wages owed to the same workers. The department’s Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia filed suit in December 2023. After several months of litigation, Blue Ridge agreed to a consent judgment requiring them to pay the remaining amount due as well as the civil money penalty.
