By denying full wages, deducting meal breaks, and not keeping records of hours and salaries, senior living providers in California have to pay more than $690,000 in unpaid wages and fines.
A federal court recently approved a consent decree ordering Neldy’s RC Inc, which operates as Neldy’s Adult Residential Care Home, to pay 108 workers $345,348 in unpaid wages and damages equal to $25,000. imposed a civil penalty of Intentional violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wages and Hours Division said an investigation found that Neldy’s intentionally did not count every hour an employee worked and paid multiple salaries to employees to conceal illegal activity. said it turned out. Investigators also found that the company deducted meal breaks from the wages of workers who were required to work during breaks and did not keep records of hours and wages.
Nerdy’s, which operates 12 residential properties in the Golden State’s Orange and Riverside counties, had a history of labor violations, according to the Labor Department.
An earlier investigation into the company’s wage practices from 2013 to 2016 resulted in a $1 million recovery against 58 workers after it found violations of minimum wage and overtime FLSA regulations.
“The court’s decision and our investigation make clear that it holds unscrupulous care industry employers accountable for their attempts to exploit workers and deprive them of their hard-earned wages. I’m sending you a message,” Min Park-Chung, Wage and Hour Division District Director of San Diego, said in a statement. “The fact that the operators of Nerdy’s Adult Residential Care Home continue to blatantly abuse workers’ rights despite previous violations is truly appalling.”
California’s Industrial Welfare Commission has enacted a series of wage orders to protect employees in various industry groups, including those in residential care homes. State law mandates a 30-minute tax-free, uninterrupted meal break during which employees may not be required to perform duties.
