An investigation into a Michigan adult foster care business found it denied seven workers by misclassifying them as independent contractors, leading to the recovery of $94,706 for the workers.
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Gracious Adult Foster Care, of Lansing, paid the workers a fixed monthly salary for all hours worked in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to an April 28 release.
“Residential healthcare workers provide vital services to adults unable to care for themselves and allow families some peace of mind knowing their loved one’s basic living needs are being addressed,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Mary O’Rourke in Grand Rapids, Mich., said, according to the release. “In return, these workers deserve to be paid all of their hard-earned wages.”
The Department of Labor’s essential worker, essential protections initiative focuses on educating essential care workers as well as their communities about their rights to minimum wage, the release reported. The initiative also addresses overtime pay and how to file a complaint if they believe their rights have been violated.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 699,000 workers in the healthcare and social services industry left their positions in February. Healthcare sectors are projected to grow around 16 percent from 2020 to 2030, according to the release.
“Industry employers that fail to pay wages as the law requires have to remember that retaining and recruiting the people they need to do these jobs is more difficult as workers in today’s labor market can choose where, and for whom, they work,” O’Rourke said, according to the release.
