PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent judgment requiring a Philadelphia-based home care services provider to pay 66 home health aides $129,697 in back wages and damages after investigations and litigation confirmed the employer willfully denied them overtime pay.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered the judgment on July 10, 2024, and directed Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. to pay back wages and liquidated damages to the affected employees, who provide home care as assigned by the company's Philadelphia and Dover, Delaware, locations. The court also required Blue Ridge to pay $49,434 in civil money penalties to the department for its violations.

Prior to the judgment, the employer paid $100,000 in back wages owed to the same workers.

The department's Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia filed suit in December 2023. After several months of litigation, Blue Ridge agreed to a consent judgment requiring them to pay the remaining amount due as well as the civil money penalty.

"Home care professionals deliver vital, quality-of-life services to some of our communities' most vulnerable people; they deserve our respect and to be paid fully for their labor," said Wage and Hour Division District Director James J. Cain in Philadelphia. "Our investigations found Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. denied overtime pay earned by dozens of aides they employed, and we've taken action to recover - on average - more than $3,400 in back wages and liquidated damages for each of the 66 affected workers."

The court's action follows investigations by the department's Wage and Hour Division and litigation by the Office of the Solicitor that confirmed Blue Ridge paid the affected employees straight-time wages for all hours worked, including for hours over 40 in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Company President Tunji Ogunmola admitted he negotiated with employees to accept an extra $1 to $1.50 per hour in addition to their regular rates of pay to avoid paying overtime.

"The U.S. Department of Labor will not hesitate to litigate against an employer in federal court to recover unpaid wages and liquidated damages they're owed and to protect their rights and protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act," said Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia. "The outcome in this case shows employers face costly consequences for violations of federal overtime pay requirements."

Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. provides companion, homemaker, personal care and live-in home care services to clients in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties of Pennsylvania, and the state of Delaware.

In fiscal year 2023, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $31.7 million in back wages for workers in the healthcare industry nationwide. The Wage and Hour Division offers resources for health care workers and employers on its website.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency's new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices - available in English and Spanish - to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

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