The Department of Labor has secured a consent judgment in federal court, compelling a Delaware County home care agency to pay over $1 million in back wages, liquidated damages, and penalties. The ruling comes after the department discovered that the employer had shortchanged 159 workers of their rightfully earned wages.
The case was brought against Caring Hearts Health Care Services LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It followed an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division which found that the Collingdale-based employer failed to pay its employees overtime wages for hours worked beyond 40 in a week. Instead, they were paid at the same rate for all hours worked. Furthermore, it was found that the employer did not accurately record employees’ hours worked.
These violations were deemed willful as evidenced by an employee handbook stating that non-exempt employees “are entitled to overtime pay as required by applicable federal and state law.”
James Cain, Wage and Hour Division District Director in Philadelphia said, “The hard-working people in this industry deserve respect and fair compensation. The Department of Labor is committed to enforcing labor standards to ensure workers receive the highest protections to which they are entitled.”
The judgment requires Caring Hearts Health Care Services to pay 159 employees $478,294 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. It also bars the employer from future Fair Labor Standards Act violations and upholds $97,459 in civil penalties assessed by the department due to the willful nature of the employer’s violations.
Acting Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas stated that employers who deliberately disregard federal regulations should understand that wage theft is not tolerated by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Caring Hearts Health Care Services provides various services including daily living care, meal arrangement, medication management, dementia care and other medical disability support, and safety supervision.
Under FLSA regulations, most employees in the U.S. must be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
