GUAYNABO, PR – While 62 employees at two hospice care centers in Puerto Rico provided vital services to comfort terminally ill people and their families, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found their employer’s pay practices hurt their ability to care for themselves and their families.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Hospicio en el Hogar Fe in Manati and Esperanza de P.R. in Mayaguez – commonly owned and operated as Hospicio la Fe – classified the workers as voluntary personnel incorrectly, and paid them a stipend of $3.75 per hour or $5.00 per hour for employee expenses, such as gasoline. By doing so, the employer incurred minimum wage violations by paying less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
The division also determined the hospice care centers did not pay the workers time-and-one-half their required rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. In addition, Hospicio la Fe failed to make, keep and preserve accurate and complete records of their employees’ wages and hours. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The investigation led to the recovery of $54,673 in back wages for the 62 employees.
“The pandemic demonstrated that the services healthcare workers provide are essential to our families, our communities and the economy. Workers often provide these services at great risk to themselves,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Jose R. Vazquez-Fernandez in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. “...
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