Three recent cases noted in releases from the Department of Labor show a continued focus on home health and home care providers and wage and hour abuses.
On July 6, the DOL announced federal investigators had recovered $133,661 in back wages for 63 workers of a Dayton, Ohio, home healthcare provider, Reliable Home Health Care, that allegedly misclassified its employees as independent contractors, denied workers overtime pay and falsified payroll records to hide the violations.
On July 8, the DOL announced prosecutors had been awarded a preliminary injunction against a Chesapeake, Virginia, provider, Heavenly Hands Home Healthcare, to reportedly prevent the employer from obstructing a DOL investigation, retaliating against employees who cooperate with investigators and demanding kickbacks of back wages assessed by the department’s Wage & Hour Division.
Also on July 8, the DOL announced it had recovered $126,000 for 95 workers at a Fort Wayne, Indiana, home care provider, Sunshine Home Health Care, following allegations that the company failed to pay workers for time spent driving between clients’ homes, leading to the department’s recovering the back wages. Failing to record and pay for travel time resulted in minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping violations, according to the DOL.