Health care workers were told to keep quiet about being underpaid in Virginia, feds say
.jpg "The owner “threatened and intimidated employees,” the Department of Labor said.")
A home health care company in Virginia must pay $703,000 to its employees after officials found that workers were not paid fairly and warned not to speak to investigators, federal authorities said.
Heavenly Hands Home Healthcare LLC and its owner, Lauren Wilson, were found to be in violation of the anti-retaliation, overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor said in an Oct. 5 news release.
Heavenly Hands is working with the Department of Labor and is “currently in compliance,” Wilson told McClatchy News in an email.
The company, which is based in Chesapeake, failed to maintain proper records of employees’ hours and paid regular wages for those working 40 hours or more in a work week instead of the overtime premium, according to the release.
Employees were also told not to speak to department investigators, the news release said, and the company falsified signatures of workers to appear as if they were making proper payments.
Heavenly Hands employed certified nursing assistants and personal care aids to help clients with different home activities, including cooking, bathing, feeding, washing dishes and organizing the homes, according to the complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Wilson “directly and through her agents threatened and intimidated employees” in order to falsify documents, prosecutors said in the complaint. Several employees told investigators they feared they would face retaliation or lose their jobs if they spoke about the unpaid wages.
“The judgment sends a clear message that the U.S. Department of Labor will seek legal remedies to ensure workers’ rights are protected and that we will not tolerate employers who shortchange wages or intimidate employees for exercising their federally protected rights,” Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III said in the release.
This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Health care workers were told to keep quiet about being underpaid in Virginia, feds say."
