Employer:                          5 Caring Hearts LLC

Investigation site:         2110 McLean St., Suite 3

                                                Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the home healthcare agency failed to pay some workers overtime rates for hours over 40 in a workweek. Instead, the employer paid straight time for overtime to direct care workers when they worked for more than one client in a week or when they worked on-call, actions that violate the Fair Labor Standards Act. 5 Caring Hearts also failed to keep proper records of overtime hours worked.

Back wages/damages recovered:    $23,688.43 in back wages,

                                                                            $23,688.43 in liquidated damages for three workers.

Quote: “Employers who fail to pay workers their rightful wages make it more difficult for their workers to provide for themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh. “We encourage employers and employees to contact the Wage and Hour Division with any questions or concerns regarding pay practices.”

Background:  For more information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). 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. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions or concerns – regardless of where they are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

PHOENIX – The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has ordered a Phoenix-based provider of non-medical home care services to pay 253 employees a total of $521,905 in back wages and liquidated damages after the U.S. Department of Labor determined the employer willfully denied them overtime pay.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Urgent Home Care Inc. – which provides in-home care to older adults – paid straight-time rates for overtime hours worked. They also learned the employer did not record and pay the affected employees for travel time between clients’ residences. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department also levied a $24,222 civil money penalty for the willful and repeat violations. A 2016 investigation found Urgent Home Care violated similar overtime requirements.

“Urgent Home Care has again been found violating the rights of workers who provide essential services to people in need,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Eric Murray in Phoenix. “The court’s order and the outcome of our investigation send the clear message that the U.S. Department of Labor will use its enforcement powers to recover workers’ hard-earned wages and hold those who deliberately engage in wage theft accountable.”

In addition to the recovery of $260,952 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, the consent judgment and order obtained by the department’s Office of the Solicitor also forbids Urgent Home Care from retaliating or taking any adverse actions against any employee who exercises their FLSA rights, and prohibits future violations of the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there almost 2.1 million job openings in the healthcare and social assistance industry, and that 664,000 industry workers quit their jobs in September 2022.

“As employers continue to struggle to find the people they need to fill open positions, those who fail to respect workers’ rights will find it harder to retain and recruit employees than employers who do,” Murray explained. 

The Wage and Hour Division protects workers against retaliation and has regulations that also prohibit harassment, intimidation or adverse actions against employees that assert their worker rights. 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 and how to file an online complaint. Workers and employers with questions can contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for android devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

ATLANTA – As the nation marks Home Care and Hospice Month, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold a public webinar on federal wage and hour regulations for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders in the Southeast.

On Nov. 17, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will present “Caring For Those Who Care: Fair Labor Standards Act Requirements in the Care Industry,” as part of its ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve compliance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The webinar will include a review of federal protections for care workers, so that employers, advocates and workers understand their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST. While attendance is free, registration is necessary.

“Our nation’s ability to care for the most vulnerable people in our communities depends on truly dedicated people,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to ensure these workers are not denied any of their hard-earned wages. Our current initiative combines compliance assistance and enforcement to decrease violations by employers in the care industries.”

From 2020 to 2022, division investigators in the Southeast identified violations in nearly 89 percent of more than 1,200 home care and nursing care investigations they completed. These reviews led the agency to recover more than $16.2 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 13,000 workers. In addition, the division assessed employers a total of $156,404 in civil money penalties.  

This effort aligns with the division’s nation-wide initiative to protect essential care workers. The initiative focuses resources on educating care workers and their communities about their rights to minimum wage and overtime pay and how to file a complaint if they believe their rights have been violated. The initiative also targets the misclassification of workers as independent contractors, an illegal practice that may deprive workers of legally earned wages, and other protections.

“The alarming volume of violations tells us we must do more to protect the rights of some of the lowest paid workers in the Southeast,” Coria added. “Far too often, the Wage and Hour Division finds workers victimized by wage thefts, sometimes by unscrupulous employers and others who misunderstand the law. The consequences of violating the law can be very costly, so we encourage employers to contact our staff in the Southeast to get answers and assistance.”

Register for “Caring For Those Who Care: An Overview of FLSA Requirements in the Care Industry.”

The division offers multiple compliance assistance resources to provide employers the tools they need to comply with the law. Employers and workers alike can find out about upcoming compliance assistance events, to request information, or to ask specific questions. For information about laws enforced by the division, use the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The division will confidentially address questions – regardless of where workers are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division and its searchable, workers owed wages database. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

MANCHESTER, NH – A federal investigation into the pay practices of a New Hampshire home care service provider that found the employer denied employees overtime wages has recovered $374,640 in back wages and liquidated damages for 46 healthcare workers.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined D+S Elder Services, based in Keene, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it paid employees straight-time wages for hours over 40 in a workweek, failing to pay overtime compensation as required by the law. The employer also did not pay employees for time spent traveling between worksites or track that time as hours worked.

“Too frequently, the Wage and Hour Division finds violations in the home care industry related to overtime and failure to pay workers for travel time,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Costly consequences like those in this case can be avoided by employers who review their pay practices and our compliance assistance materials, and who contact us with questions.”

In fiscal year 2021, the division recovered nearly $14 million for 17,079 healthcare industry workers in 1,194 investigations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there were more than 2 million job openings for healthcare and social assistance workers in September 2022, and about 664,000 workers in those fields separated from their jobs.

“Healthcare workers often work long hours for low pay while providing vital services to the clients they assist,” McKinney added. “When employers deprive workers of their hard-earned wages, they make it harder for employees and their families to make ends meet. They may also make it harder for their businesses to retain and recruit the workers they need to operate.”

D+S Elder Services home healthcare workers provide companionship services and assist clients in New Hampshire with daily living activities such as bathing, light housekeeping and medication reminders. Learn more about minimum wage and overtime pay for direct care workers.

For more information about workers’ rights and other employee rights enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions regardless of immigration status, and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the division, including its search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division.

Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

MEDFORD, OR – A federal investigation has recovered $375,233 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Medford restaurant for 11 workers after finding their employer kept servers tips, threatened to fire employees if they kept cash tips, and failed to pay kitchen workers overtime.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division determined that Bonsai Teriyaki – operating as Bonsai Teriyaki and Sushi – collected and withheld cash and credit card tips earned by seven servers, and warned them they’d be fired if they failed to surrender cash tips. The employer also illegally denied four cooks and sushi chefs their overtime wages due by misapplying overtime rules for salaried, exempt workers. Bonsai Teriyaki’s actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The division’s investigation recovered $187,616 in back wages and $187,616 in liquidated damages for the workers. The affected employees stand to recover between $16,000 and $93,000 in back wages and liquidated damages. The division also assessed $5,091 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations.

“Wage theft is a serious concern for restaurant industry workers, often low-wage earners who are vulnerable and reluctant to complain,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Carrie Aguilar in Portland, Oregon. “Our investigation found Bonsai Teriyaki and Sushi withheld hard-earned wages from servers deliberately and denied overtime pay to others. Its outcome shows the U.S. Department of Labor will defend workers’ rights and hold to account those employers who cheat their employees.”

In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $34.7 million for more than 29,000 workers in the food service industry. In 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports near record numbers of job openings and workers in the accommodations and food services industry quitting their jobs. 

“Employers who do not respect their workers’ rights will likely struggle to retain and recruit the people they need to remain competitive, as workers look for opportunities with employers who do,” added Aguilar.

The Wage and Hour Division protects workers against retaliation and has regulations that also prohibit harassment, intimidation or adverse actions against employees that assert their worker rights. 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 and how to file an online complaint. Workers and employers with questions can contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for android devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employer:                              Godly Security Agency LLC

Investigation site:                  1712 Kingsley Ave. Orange Park, FL 32073

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found Godly Security Agency LLC – a security service provider – failed to compensate some employees for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer allowed the hourly rate of some employees to fall below the federal minimum wage, a Fair Labor Standards Act violation. The employer also failed to pay some workers overtime rates when they exceeded 40 hours in a workweek.

Back Wages Recovered: $22,341 in back wages for 28 workers.

Quote: “This case demonstrates the Wage and Hour Division’s commitment to ensuring essential workers receive the pay they have rightfully earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Employers who fail to record and pay all hours worked hurt their workers by denying the wages they need to make ends meet. We encourage employers and employees to contact the Wage and Hour Division with any questions or concerns regarding pay practices.”

Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers numerous online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. Workers who feel they may not be getting the wages they earned may contact a Wage and Hour Division representative in their state through a list and interactive online map on the agency’s website. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free.

Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

DELMONT, PA – Following a three-day trial and three years of litigation, a jury in a federal court in Pennsylvania has determined a Delmont restaurant and its owner intentionally shortchanged 15 servers, dishwashers, bussers and cooks more than $214,000 in wages, confirming the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor.

From April 2014 to July 2017, Picante LLC, its successor Picante Grille LLC and its owner Helius Mucino, paid no wages to servers solely compensated through tips. They also failed to pay dishwashers, bussers and cooks overtime when required and did not keep adequate records. After the department uncovered their illegal pay practices, the employers – who operate as Picante Mexican Grille – continued to pay less than the required amount of overtime to certain employees for two more years, until 2019.  

In its Sept. 21, 2022, verdict, the jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania also concluded that during at least some of the timeframe when the violations occurred Mucino was acting as an employer at the restaurant – a point of contention during litigation – which made him liable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also found that the employers willfully violated the law, a finding the department sought to increase the back wages paid to employees for an additional year of violations that went back to 2014.

“Restaurant workers depend on all their rightfully earned wages and benefits, and employers are obligated by law to pay them. When an employer fails to pay the full wages as due, they harm both the workers and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh. “Wage theft is a serious issue that causes great harm to low-wage workers, and the Wage and Hour Division is determined to protect workers’ rights and hold employers accountable.”

Following the verdict, the department filed a proposed final judgment with the court to secure more than $429,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for the employees and to forbid the employers from future FLSA violations. The jury’s decision is the latest action in a lengthy effort to hold the employers accountable.

The verdict comes after the department’s attorneys won a partial summary judgment in 2021 in which the court ruled the employers violated the FLSA from 2014 to 2017. The court also found, at the department’s urging, that a 2017 attempt by the employers to sell their business to another company with the same owners, employees and location did not allow the new business to avoid liability for the earlier violations. The department’s attorneys also defeated a summary judgment motion from the employers and won pretrial rulings protecting the rights of workers to testify without regard to possible immigration status.

“Before filing the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2019 complaint, the Office of the Solicitor provided support to the Wage and Hour Division when the employers resisted turning over records to investigators. Over the last three years we worked closely with employee witnesses and the division to recover wages for the affected employees,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III, in Philadelphia.

The division’s Pittsburgh District Office conducted the investigation. Trial attorneys Matthew Epstein and Sharon McKenna with the department’s Regional Solicitor in Philadelphia litigated the case.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). 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. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions or concerns – regardless of where you are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

CONCORD, NH  – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has entered a consent preliminary injunction to prevent a West Lebanon home healthcare business and its president from coercing employees to “kick back” wages recovered for them by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The court also ordered them to stop interfering with a current investigation.

This action is the latest involving Your Comfort Zone Inc. and Rosalind Godfrey. After two federal investigations in 2018 found they failed to pay 25 workers overtime wages when required, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the company and its president agreed to pay $100,055 in back wages to the affected workers. On Oct. 14, 2022, the department’s Office of the Solicitor filed a complaint in federal court, alleging the employer later coerced some employees into returning the back wages the investigations recovered.

The department also alleges that the company and Godfrey interfered with a current investigation of their pay practices by asking employees about their contact with investigators, telling at least one employee they did not need to speak with investigators, altering at least one timesheet and submitting that false information to investigators.

“Employers who demand that their employees return wages recovered for them by the U.S. Department of Labor or who try to obstruct and interfere with an investigation are violating federal law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia S. Fisher in Boston. “When employers demand such ‘kickbacks,’ discourage employees from asserting their legal protections or falsify records, the department will take swift legal action to defend workers’ rights and hold employers accountable.”

The preliminary injunction the department obtained prohibits Your Comfort Zone Inc. and Rosalind Godfrey from retaliation or interference with the investigation so that it may proceed. Specifically, the court order forbids the company and Godfrey from having current or former employees kick back any compensation they are owed, and orders them not to threaten to take, or take, action that harms current or former employees who took part or will take part in legally protected activity. The retaliation prohibition includes termination, verbal or written threats, physical harm or verbal abuse, threats of deportation or reports to immigration authorities and other actions that would hinder an investigation, such as instructing employees not to speak to investigators.

“Federal law empowers the Wage and Hour Division to obtain accurate information from employers to determine if their pay practices comply with federal law. Employees must be able to participate freely in an investigation without fear of retaliation by their employer,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Employers are legally responsible for complying with federal laws that protect workers’ rights, and we are committed to enforcing these laws and taking action when violations are found.”

View the complaint and the consent preliminary injunction and order.

The division’s Northern New England District Office in Manchester is conducting the investigation. The regional Office of the Solicitor in Boston is litigating the case.

Learn more about how the Wage and Hour Division protects workers against retaliation.

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 the required 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 department can speak with callers confidentially 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.

NAMPA, ID – A federal investigation has recovered $88,185 in back wages and liquidated damages for 90 caregivers employed by an Idaho home care agency whose pay practices denied the workers their legally earned wages, including overtime.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Allegiant SL LLC, a service provider for people with developmental disabilities, paid some caregivers straight-time rates for hours over 40 in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer – operating as Allegiant Supported Living in Nampa – also failed to include non-discretionary bonuses in calculating overtime for some workers. Additionally, the employer did not maintain records of all hours worked, including overtime hours, resulting in additional recordkeeping violations.

“Too often, unscrupulous employers in the healthcare industry violate federal wage and hour laws knowingly and deprive their employees of their hard-earned wages,” said District Director Carrie Aguilar in Portland, Oregon. “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to protect the rights of essential workers like these by recovering wages owed to them and by holding employers accountable for wage theft.”

In addition to recovering $44,092 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in damages, the division assessed $11,984 in penalties because of the willful nature of Allegiant’s violations.

In fiscal year 2021, the division recovered $13.8 million in back wages for more than 17,000 workers in the healthcare industry, known for low wages and high rates of violations.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that more than 1.7 million job openings existed in the healthcare industry in August 2022, and that 486,000 industry workers quit their jobs.

“As healthcare industry employers struggle to recruit the people they need to fill their open positions, those who fail to pay employees their full wages will likely find it more difficult to retain and attract workers than employers who respect workers’ rights and protections,” Aguilar added.  

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 where they are from. The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App, now available for Android and iOS devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $51,217 in restored tips and back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages from the operator of three Cumberland County, Maine, restaurants that denied 25 workers their full overtime wages or kept portions of their earned tips illegally.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that El Grand Rodeo, operating as El Rodeo in South Portland, El Rodeo Brunswick LLC in Brunswick and Azul Tequila LLC in Gorham failed to combine the hours of employees working at more than one location when calculating overtime for hours over 40 in each workweek. They also found Azul Tequila diverted tip pool monies to a part owner and a manager improperly and failed to pay overtime to one non-exempt salaried employee. The employers’ actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“The overtime and tip-related violations found in these investigations are all-too-common in the food service industry,” said Wage and Hour District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Workers who rely on tips depend on them to supplement their hourly wages to make ends meet. Employers who deprive workers money they earn may face costly consequences when they violate the law.”

Federal law prohibits employers, managers and supervisors from keeping employees’ tips, including tips in tip pools. The law applies even if tipped workers are paid hourly at rates equal to or above the full minimum wage. 

In fiscal year 2021, the division recovered more than $34.7 million in back wages for 29,209 food service industry workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there were 1.2 million job openings in the accommodations and food service industry in August 2022, while 1,022,000 accommodations and food service industry workers separated from their jobs.

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of immigration status, and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For more information about the FLSA, restaurant employment and restaurant workers, or other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division and a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.