Home health aides for a Pennsylvania based home health care agency have just been awarded $4.5 million in owed wages. The agency, Successful Aging Care Net Inc., allegedly failed to pay its home health aides the correct overtime pay when working over 40 hours in one work week. This lawsuit, that was originally filed in 2020 for violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, will help more than 500 workers benefit from this payout. Affected workers include home health aides, office staff employees,and nurses.
A Pennsylvania federal judge ordered the payout after finding that Successful Aging Care had willfully misclassified hundreds of workers as independent contractors denying them significant overtime pay. Workers were only paid straight time when working over 40 hours in a week. In addition to the $4.5 million owed in back wages and damages, the judge also fined the company over $150,000 in civil penalties. Some of the alleged violations committed included affected workers:• clocking up to 30 hours of overtime per week but never receiving time-and-a-half pay. • going unpaid for time spent traveling between client’s homes which contributed to the total overtime that was not paid at a premium.• not having access to accurate payroll records from Successful Aging Care from at least the last three years.
Worker misclassification is unfortunately a common occurrence for home health aides in this industry. When relying on hourly wages to make ends meet, misclassifying workers hurts hard working individuals and their families. These essential workers deserve their rights be protected and to receive the wages they’ve earned. If you feel you’ve experienced similar violations in your place of work, do not hesitate to call an employment lawyer to learn more about your potential claims. Our firm, Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP, offers a free and confidential consultation at (212)300-0375. You can also view our website here for additional helpful information.