A federal court has ordered the owner of a Haslett assisted living facility to pay $15,238 in back wages and damages to six healthcare workers, whom the employer failed to pay during meal breaks when their duties forced them to work during or through the breaks. The action follows a review of payroll records of Safe Haven Assisting Living of Haslett LLC from Aug. 16, 2020, through Dec. 12, 2021, by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Investigators found the facility and owner Tamesha Porter automatically deducted meal breaks from employees’ paid time and did not pay the affected workers when they worked during their breaks, which incurred violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company will also pay a civil money penalty of $3,618.
The division found the facility changed its policy and began automatically deducting meal breaks from employees’ paid time in August 2020, shortly after Porter purchased the facility. Investigators learned a facility manager routinely made notations on timecards when employees worked through breaks to make sure they were paid fully. The division determined Porter ignored the manager’s reminders and failed to pay employees for break time even when she was informed they worked through their breaks. On Jan. 17, 2023, the department obtained a consent judgment in the US District Court for Western District of Michigan, Southern Division in Grand Rapids requiring Porter and the company to pay back wages and damages to the affected workers.
