Advantage Home Care LLC and co-owners Dondra Nichols and Phillip Simons are to pay nearly $900K in back wages to 108 workers denied wages.
NORFOLK, VA (STL.News) The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered nearly $900,000 in back wages and damages after its investigation found a Norfolk home care employer denied 108 workers their hard-earned overtime pay.
The division’s investigation found that Advantage Home Care LLC and co-owners Dondra Nichols and Phillip Simons failed to pay required overtime rates for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek and did not maintain accurate records of hours worked.
The employers paid $438,277 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for these violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Workers in the low-wage home care industry must stretch their wages as far as they can go to make ends meet, making Advantage Home Care’s wage theft especially harmful,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Roberto Melendez in Richmond, Virginia. “We encourage other home care employers to evaluate their own pay practices to ensure they are in compliance with the law.”
Advantage Home Care LLC provides nurses and home health aides for in-home care services in the Hampton Roads area.
The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. It also prohibits employers from firing or taking adverse action against employees for exercising their rights.
SOURCE: DOL
