A federal court in New York has issued a restraining order against home care provider Sunrise Home Care to stop the company from retaliating against employees during an investigation into the company's compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Department of Labor (DOL) obtained a temporary restraining order March 1 in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York against Sunrise Home Care and owner Elsa Silva. According to a DOL release, the department’s Wage and Hour Division began an investigation in January over the company's compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

“The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division must be able to gather information from the employer and employees to determine if an employer is obeying or defying the law,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Jay Rosenblum said in the release. “Requiring employees to lie to federal investigators isn’t and should never be a condition of employment.”  

According to the release, Silva allegedly harassed and intimidated employees over their communication with investigators, and also asked them to provide false information to the labor department, threatened to close the business and pressured employees to agree to return money that was owed to them. Silva is also alleged to have obstructed and interfered with the investigation.

The court order requires Sunrise and Silva to permit the DOL's Wage and Hour Division representatives to read aloud a statement explaining employees' rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act during working hours and in the presence of the owner. 

The order also requires the employer to provide written notice to the division seven days before terminating an employee for any reason.

The Wage and Hour Division is investigating the case, with senior trial attorney Allison Bowles from the regional solicitor's office in New York, litigating for the DOL, the release stated.