Department of Labor obtains judgment requiring Philadelphia-area home care employer to pay over $1M in overtime back wages, damages, penalties

COLLINGDALE, PA – The Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court that orders a Delaware County home care agency to pay more than $1 million in back wages, liquidated damages and penalties after the department found the employer shortchanged 159 workers of their earned wages. 

The action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia follows an investigation of Caring Hearts Health Care Services LLC by the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Division investigators determined the Collingdale employer did not pay its employees overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek, instead paying them the same rate for all hours worked. In addition, the employer failed to accurately record employees’ hours worked. These violations were willful, as shown by an employee handbook stating that non-exempt employees “are entitled to overtime pay as required by applicable federal and state law.” 

“The Wage and Hour Division’s emphasis on rooting out wage theft in the home care industry has found yet another employer taking advantage of workers who provide vital services to people in need,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director James Cain in Philadelphia. “The hard-working people in this industry deserve respect and fair compensation. The Department of Labor is committed to enforcing labor standards to ensure workers receive the highest protections to which they are entitled.” 

The judgment requires Caring Hearts Health Care Services to pay 159 employees $478,294 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, bars the employer from future Fair Labor Standards Act violations and affirms $97,459 in civil penalties the department assessed for the willful nature of the employer’s violations. 

“Employers who deliberately disregard federal regulations must learn the U.S. Department of Labor does not tolerate wage theft,” explained Acting Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia. “As the outcome of this case shows, we will use all legal actions to hold employers legally accountable and liable for wages owed and the costly consequences of an equal amount in damages and civil penalties.”

Caring Hearts Health Care Services is a business providing in-home care services for individual, personal needs and necessities. Its services include daily living care, meal arrangement, medication management, dementia care and other medical disability support, and safety supervision. The company serves clients in Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of their immigration status. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free, available in English and Spanish.

Su v. Caring Hearts HealthCare Services, LLC, Edith Walters-Wilson and Cristine Maycole