ATLANTA — The Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor said it resolved an investigation where two Atlanta-area home healthcare agencies had withheld wages resulting in more than $355,000 in back wages to their employees.
The two healthcare agencies under investigation were Regency Home Care of North Georgia and Edlyn Healthcare Services Inc. in Atlanta, the DOL said.
A press release by the DOL said that Regency Home Healthcare Georgia paid its caregivers straight time for overtime hours by reducing the hourly pay rate when workers exceeded 40 hours in a workweek. The second healthcare agency, Edlyn Healthcare Services Inc. paid its workers straight-time rates for overtime hours, instead of time-and-one-half rates.
According to the Wage and Hour Division, these were two different investigations and they found that both employers had not been paying their healthcare workers overtime correctly.
"So both employers were basically paying a straight time for overtime, meaning they were paying just the normal regular rate to employees and not the additional half time," said Lisa Kelly, the Assistant District Director at the Wage and Hour Division office in Atlanta.
One of the companies had also misclassified many employees as independent contractors.
The investigation led to 108 workers that had gone without receiving their overtime wages to be compensated for their missed payments.
Regency Home Care had $228,464 in back wages paid to 61 employees after the investigation and Edlyn Healthcare Services had $127,084 paid to 47 employees according to a DOL press release.
According to the Wage and Hour Division, these types of investigations are common and they urge healthcare workers and employers to reach out if they need assistance.
"We do offer ways for employees to get assistance if they feel that they are being underpaid as well as for employers who want to be in compliance and maybe just have some questions about the law or how they can ensure that they are paying properly," said Kelly.
11Alive has reached out to both companies for statements on the investigations. Regency declined to comment, and Edlyn has not yet responded.
To reach out to the Wage and Hour Division visit their website here or call 1-866-4-USWAGE.