The Department of Labor (DOL) announced on May 14, 2024, that it had obtained a consent judgment in federal court ordering a Pennsylvania home care agency to pay more than $1 million in back wages, liquidated damages, and penalties. According to the DOL, the company had shortchanged 159 workers of their earned wages.
The company, which serves clients in the Philadelphia area, provides in-home care services for individual, personal needs, and necessities. Its services include daily living care, meal arrangement, medication management, dementia care and other medical disability support, and safety supervision.
The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division investigators determined that the company did not pay its employees overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek, instead paying them the same rate for all hours worked. In addition, the company failed to accurately record employees’ hours worked. According to the DOL, these violations were willful, as the employee handbook stated that non-exempt employees “are entitled to overtime pay as required by applicable federal and state law.”
The judgment requires the company to pay 159 employees $478,294 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, bars the employer from future Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations, and affirms $97,459 in civil penalties the department assessed for the willful nature of the company’s violations.
“Employers who deliberately disregard federal regulations must learn the US Department of Labor does not tolerate wage theft,” explained Acting Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia. “As the outcome of this case shows, we will use all legal actions to hold employers legally accountable and liable for wages owed and the costly consequences of an equal amount in damages and civil penalties.”
Compliance Perspective
Issue
The FLSA sets minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards for employment subject to its provisions. Unless exempt, covered employees must be paid at least the minimum wage and not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for overtime hours worked. Hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. Every covered employer must keep certain records for each non-exempt worker. The Act requires no particular form for the records, but does require that the records include certain identifying information about the employee and data about the hours worked and the wages earned. The law requires this information to be accurate.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on fair wages, overtime pay eligibility, and recordkeeping. Update if needed.
- Train all staff with responsibility for determining fair wages, overtime pay eligibility, and recordkeeping so that they are knowledgeable about your policies and procedures to ensure they comply with federal and state requirements. Document that these trainings occurred, and file each signed document in the employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure compliance with minimum wage laws, and that overtime pay eligibility and recordkeeping are accurate and being reported correctly.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
