DALLAS – Many home healthcare workers performed their jobs heroically in the face of challenges and risks presented by the global pandemic. Yet, their efforts were undercut by industry employers who failed to pay them for the essential, sometimes life-saving work performed. A recent federal investigation found the operators of two related Garland home care agencies underpaid workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation determined Vital Home Health Care Inc. and Comfort Home Health Care Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements by failing to pay employees for all the hours they worked and failing to pay overtime as required. The employer also violated FLSA recordkeeping provisions by failing to record all hours employees worked.
Employees 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 paid for scheduled hours and not actual hours worked, leading to FLSA minimum wage and overtime violations.
The investigation led the division to recover $1,218,320 in 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.
