Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: A flat daily rate won’t cut it, DOL warns.

The feds’ crackdown on wage violations at home care companies continues, as two new cases show.

In Pennsylvania: A federal court has ordered Prestige Home Care Agency in Philadelphia and its owner Alexander Dorfman to pay nearly $7 million for underpaying its workers. The amount is half due to back wages for 1,230 current and former employees and half to damages, the Department of Labor says in a release.

Prestige failed to pay adequate overtime because it didn’t pay for travel time between patients’ homes and from the office to those homes; paid some workers straight time for all hours including those over 40 in a week; and failed to keep accurate records.

“Home care employers must pay employees for travel time, which is an essential part of their job duties,” Deputy Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas explains in the release. “This case serves as a stark reminder to other homecare employers that the consequences for shortchanging employees can be costly both to the company’s bottom line and to its industry reputation,” Thomas says.

In Minnesota: Amada Senior Care Twin Cities and its owner Gregory B. Getchell have agreed to pay $121,000 in back overtime wages and damages to 25 certified nursing and patient care assistants, the DOL says in a release.

Amada paid a flat daily rate to live-in workers, failing to pay overtime as required, according to the release. And “the employer’s pay records gave the appearance that overtime had been paid when it had not been paid,” the DOJ alleges.

“All too often we find industry employers violating overtime rules and denying these care workers their rightful wages,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Kristin Tout chastises in the release.