The US Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment to recover $703,609 in back wages and liquidated damages for 38 employees denied overtime pay by a Chesapeake home healthcare company and its owner who also retaliated against workers for cooperating with federal investigators. In its Sept. 1, 2022, judgment, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that Heavenly Hands Home Healthcare LLC and owner, Lauren Wilson must pay the back wages and damages to the affected home healthcare workers for its violations of federal law. The judgment follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found the employer and the company’s owner willfully failed to maintain accurate records of all hours worked and paid straight time for hours worked over 40 in a work week, failing to pay the required overtime premium. The division also learned the employer told workers not to speak with department investigators, and falsified employees’ signatures on official payment and payroll receipt records to make it appear as though they had made the payment. These actions violated the anti-retaliation, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
