As part of a compliance initiative, the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) found five personal care assistance (PCA) agencies violated wage and hour laws, of which four did not pay or failed to correctly pay workers COVID-19-related funding. DLI recovered a total of more than $79,000 in back-wages owed to 137 workers.
In its investigations, DLI's Labor Standards unit determined the PCA agencies it investigated failed to pay employees' wages for all the hours they worked at the correct rate of pay. It also found some of the PCA agencies did not correctly use temporary funds allocated by the Minnesota Legislature in 2020 to increase wages, salaries and benefits for direct support workers, such as PCA employees.
"Personal care assistants have physically and mentally demanding jobs and provide vital services to their fellow Minnesotans. They deserve to be paid all the wages they have earned," said DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach. "As part of this initiative, we found employers failed to pay employees for all hours worked and overtime for hours worked beyond 40 hours in a week. We are glad to get these workers the wages they are owed."
DLI investigators found the PCA agencies committed the following violations:
• AbbeyCare Choice, Inc. made illegal deductions from employees' wages for hours they worked. DLI recovered $2,003 in back-wages for four employees.
• Activeagingalliancecorporation.com, doing business as A-1 Reliable Home Care Inc., failed to pay the...
Over the last year, beyond traditional healthcare and federal procurement matters, the government has pursued federal False Claims Act (FCA) investigations and enforcement across high-risk areas, i...