The US Department of Labor (DOL) has recovered $31,761 in back wages and damages from a Tennessee operator of assisted living communities that illegally fired one worker for questioning the employer’s pay practices and denied full overtime wages to seven care workers. The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Family First LLC, owner of Bailey Manor, terminated an employee who questioned the facility’s pay practices. Investigators also determined the employer did not include pay for time spent on-call when calculating overtime wages for seven employees at its Manchester location for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division recovered $30,000 in back wages, liquidated and punitive damages for the employee wrongly terminated and $1,761 in back wages and liquidated damages for seven other employees.
