US Dept. Of Labor: Garland Home Healthcare Agencies Failed To Pay $1.2M In Wages
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - During the global pandemic, home healthcare works have put in heroic efforts to keep patients safe and health. For some, however, their efforts were undermined by employers who failed to pay them for their essential and life-saving work.
A recent federal investigation found that the operators of two Garland home care agencies underpaid workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division determined that Vital Home Health Care Inc. and Comfort Home Health Care Inc. failed to pay employees for all the hours they worked and failed to pay overtime as required. The employers also violated FLSA recordkeeping provisions by failing to record all the hours employees worked.
According to a Department of Labor spokesperson, workers were paid straight time for all hours of work, even when they worked over 40 hours in a work week, a violation of federal overtime regulations.
Several employees were only paid for scheduled hours and not actual hours worked, violations of FLSA minimum wage and overtime laws.
The investigation recovered $1,218,320 in owed back wages for 202 workers.
"The importance of home health care workers to the families they serve cannot be overstated. The Wage and Hour Division protects these essential workers and works tirelessly to ensure they are paid all of the wages they have earned," said Acting Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division Jessica Looman. "We are also here to help responsible employers who follow the law and encourage them to reach out to us for confidential compliance assistance.
For more information about the FLSA and 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, 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 – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.