SANTA MARIA, CA – A federal investigation has found the owner and operator of five central California residential care homes denied overtime wages to 42 caregivers by requiring them to sign away their rights to overtime in exchange for an extra $1 per hour worked and creating a second payroll to hide the fraud.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined Santa Maria-based Bauer Residential Inc. and its president, Mihaela Bauer, took deliberate steps to avoid paying the overtime rate of time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. They also learned Bauer made employees sign an agreement to forego the overtime rate and accept just $1 more per hour over their regular pay.
“Too often, the Wage and Hour Division finds employers of care workers taking advantage of people who provide essential care to those in need,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Eduardo Huerta in Los Angeles. “Bauer Residential Inc.’s flagrant denial of overtime pay to 42 employees violated their rights to be paid fully and legally under federal law. An employer cannot force an employee to give up their legally protected wages in any manner, including by signing a form.”
Investigators also learned the employer failed to keep accurate records of employees’ hours worked and created separate timesheets for some employees, resulting in additional recordkeeping violations.
In total, the division...
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