A federal court entered a consent judgment against a Pennsylvania home healthcare agency and its owner after investigators found they denied 193 direct care workers overtime pay. Entered on April 11, 2022, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the judgment requires Nursing Care in Home LLC — operating as Meridius Health in Lancaster — and owner, Rustam Suvanidze to pay a total of $1,158,955. The employer will pay $579,477 in back wages, and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers. In addition, the employer and its owner must pay $37,921 in civil money penalties assessed by the department for the willful nature of their violations. Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division’s Wilkes-Barre District Office determined the employer paid employees straight time for all hours worked. Additionally, bonuses and hazard pay were not factored into the employees’ rate of pay for purposes of computing overtime. Their actions are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition to the back wages, damages and penalties, the judgment prohibits the employers from violating the FLSA in the future.
