A Michigan home care company must pay 23 companion workers $93,331 due to overtime rules violations, according to a Department of Labor news release. That amount includes $46,665 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages.
The employer, Independent Home Care of Michigan, based in Fenton, Michigan, failed to pay overtime wages from Jan. 23, 2018, through June 1, 2019, according to the release. It also failed to keep an accurate record of hours worked and rates of pay for work performed, the DOL noted.
The company argued against liquidated damages by claiming ignorance of a 2015 change in the law and reliance on advice given by the department on the old law in 1999 and on a community agency who contracted the services of Independent Home Care.
But the DOL noted in its release that, to avoid paying liquidated damages, the court stated that the employers had to make ongoing and continuing efforts to keep informed of ever-changing laws.
“The company failed to meet its substantial burden of establishing it took active and affirmative steps to comply with the law,” the release noted.