(WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com)– A home care agency in Philadelphia along with its owner is now required to pay more than $400,000 in penalties including back wages, liquidated damages and willful wage violations by the U.S. District County for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
An investigation from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Alma Conway Home Care LLC and owner Sara Tucker paid their 55 workers a flat rate for all hours worked, including when employees had to work more that 40 hours a week which denied them overtime rates.
Additionally, it was discovered that the agency lowered regular hourly wages when employees worked overtime, causing them to earn less than the required overtime rates and made payroll records inaccurate according to the release.
When the employer refused to resolve the violations of Fair Labor Standards Act, a complaint was filed that resulted in the them being required to pay $205,434 in back wages, the same amount in liquidated damages to affected workers and $25,740 in civil penalties. That brings the total penalty to $436,608 in payments along with being forbidden from future Fair Labor Standards Act violations.
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