Prestige Home Care Agency has been ordered by a federal court to pay more than $7 million in back wages and liquidated damages after failing to pay overtime wages.
 
The Philadelphia-based agency, established in 1995, provides home health care and private duty caregiving services.
 
After two years of litigation, the U.S. Department of Labor found that the agency owner, Alexander Dorfman, failed to pay overtime wages by not including employees' time for work-related travel when calculating wages.
 
"Unfortunately, our investigators found yet another Philadelphia-area home health agency willfully shortchanging employees and skirting the law," James Cain , Wage and Hour Division district director said in a statement.
 
"In this case, Prestige Home Care Agency denied 1,230 current and former employees more than $3.5 million in wages they earned for putting in long hours to help vulnerable people in our community."
 
The back wages and liquidated damages will be paid to those employees, he said.
 
The Department of Labor's investigation found that Prestige Home Care Agency paid certain employees straight-time hourly rates for all hours worked—including for hours over 40 in a workweek—and segregated types of work performed by certain employees during a workweek rather than combining all hours worked when computing overtime wages due.
 
The agency also failed to keep accurate time and payroll records as required by law, the investigation found.
 
"The court's judgment affirms the Department of Labor's position that home care employers must pay employees for travel time, which is an essential part of their job duties," Deputy Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas said in a statement.
 
"The outcome in this case serves as a stark reminder to other home care employers that the consequences for shortchanging employees can be costly both to the company's bottom line and to its industry reputation."