INDIANAPOLIS – Despite a 2022 federal court judgment requiring him to pay his employees overtime, Tim Paul, owner of eight Indianapolis-area healthcare services companies, continues to use improper pay practices, the U.S. Department of Labor alleges in its request that a federal court hold the employer in contempt for ignoring the 2022 decision.
In addition to asking the court to hold Paul and his companies—TPS Caregiving LLC, doing business as Comfort Keepers Home Care and Heal at Home LLC—in contempt, the department alleges ongoing overtime violations in its complaint.
Currently, the department’s Wage and Hour Division estimates more than 700 employees of Paul’s companies from April 2020 to date may have been shortchanged by these practices. It is unclear how many employees have been denied their full wages.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis on July 10, 2024, the department’s complaint states that Tim Paul manipulated regular pay rates of employees who worked more than 40 hours in a workweek to pay them the equivalent of straight-time rates for all hours worked. The complaint alleges Paul’s efforts to avoid paying required overtime wages began the day after the previous investigative period ended.
“The Department of Labor has asked the U.S. District Court to hold Tim Paul and his companies in contempt for violating the 2022 consent judgment he signed,” explained Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago. “When employers violate the FLSA’s pay requirements after resolving a case through a consent judgment, the department will seek to hold them accountable in court.”
The division examined records at TPS Medical Holdings LLC of Indianapolis, which provides management and payroll services for other companies and home healthcare agencies: TPS Caregiving LLC – operating as Comfort Keepers Home Care, Heal at Home LLC and TPS Medical Holdings LLC – in Indianapolis; Healing Hands Home Health LLC; and Healing Hands Personal Services Agency LLC in Anderson.
Investigators also reviewed records at three now-closed home health agencies Paul operated: Healing Hands Outpatient Therapy and Rehabilitation Center LLC (Anderson), Community Integration Support Services LLC (Indianapolis), and Tranquility Nursing and Rehab LLC (Indianapolis). While the contempt petition only relates to Paul, TPS Caregiving LLC operating as Comfort Keepers Home Care, and Heal at Home LLC, the complaint alleges violations by them and all other companies examined by the division.
In addition to its request for a contempt finding, the department has asked the court to require Paul and his companies to hire a third-party accountant at their expense to calculate back wages due because of an extremely large volume of pay records involved.
Investigators specifically found that employers failed to pay overtime when they:
- Combined hours worked across multiple affiliated companies but then reduced employees’ hourly pay rate by as much as $2 per hour.
- Had employees sign confusing pay agreements showing they earned more working overtime when they earned less based on improperly lowered rates.
- Lowered employee hourly rates when Medicare or Medicaid approved more care hours per week for individual clients.
In 2021, Comfort Keepers, Heal at Home, and Tim Paul were investigated for violations from April 30, 2019 through April 11, 2020. The department’s Office of the Solicitor obtained a consent judgment in January 2022 prohibiting future violations.
“The Department of Labor will always fight to protect workers’ rights and hold employers accountable for violating federal law,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Aaron Loomis in Indianapolis. “We are determined to recover wages rightfully earned by workers employed by Tim Paul and his companies.”
Trial attorneys Haley Jenkins and Adam Lubow are litigating this case on behalf of the department’s Office of the Solicitor.
In fiscal year 2023, Wage and Hour Division recovered over $31.7 million in back wages nationwide for healthcare industry workers with $192,929 recovered for Indiana workers. Learn more about resources available for healthcare workers provided by Wage and Hour Division.
Learn more about Wage and Hour Division's search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by them or how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance regardless where from call toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The division can speak with callers in over 200 languages.
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DOL v. Tim Paul et al
Civil Action No.:1:21-CV-02160-SEB-TAB
