Employers Who Violate Overtime Laws Must Pay Back Wages and Other Penalties

The U.S. Department of Labor recently obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a home healthcare agency to provide backpay for unpaid overtime wages that the agency had deliberately denied to nearly 300 of its employees and former employees.  A previous investigation by the Department of Labor found that the company had paid its employees only straight time wages even for their hours worked over forty in a workweek, did not combine hours that an employee worked between multiple clients for the purposes of calculating overtime hours worked, did not pay for time that employees spent traveling between clients, did not accurately track time that employees worked, and did not keep all payroll records required.  These alleged actions are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay time-and-half overtime wages to certain employees who work over forty hours in a workweek.  Employers who do not comply with the FLSA can be required to pay back the unpaid wages plus additional penalties and attorney’s fees and costs.  See Julie A. Su v. Aging with Care, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 23-cv-654-JMY (E.D. Pa.).