The US Department of Labor is trying to locate home healthcare workers employed from April 2020 through March 2022 by a Pikesville company who may be owed part of nearly $1.13 million in back wages and damages the department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered on their behalf. On Sept. 15, 2022, the division reached a settlement with employers Salim Inc., operating as A Plus Personal Home Care, Timur Yusufov, Julie Rakhamimov and Ilona Yusufov, who paid $569,138 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to resolve violations the agency found during its investigation. The division determined the employers denied a total of 193 home healthcare workers overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek when they misclassified the employees as independent contractors. Investigators learned the employer had given workers the option to be paid at a lower hourly rate as employees or as independent contractors at a higher hourly rate. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
