U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in North Carolina Healthcare Agency Paying $90,640 in Back Wages and Damages to Employees

WILMINGTON, NC – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Care Providers of Wilmington Inc. – a healthcare agency based in Wilmington, North Carolina – has paid $90,640 in back wages and liquidated damages to 21 employees for violating minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators determined Care Providers of Wilmington Inc. failed to pay its employees for travel time between patients’ homes when they visited more than one client in a day. Instead, employees were paid only for time spent in clients’ homes. The employer also incorrectly classified some employees as independent contractors when they worked more than 40 hours, paying the first 40 hours on the company’s payroll, but any hours beyond 40 at straight time, as an independent contractor. These practices resulted in violations when the employer failed to pay its employees overtime for any hours they worked over 40 in a workweek.

Additionally, the employer violated FLSA recordkeeping requirements when the employer failed to maintain accurate payroll records reflecting the actual number of hours employees worked, and the amounts of wages due to each employee.

“Employers must pay employees all of the wages they have earned for all of the hours they have worked,” said Wage and Hour District Director Richard Blaylock, in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Employers must fully understand their responsibilities under the FLSA. Employers and employees alike are encouraged to call our offices to speak directly with trained Wage and Hour professionals and ask any questions they may have. Violations like those in this case can be avoided.”

The Department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, confidential calls, or in-person visits to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the WHD, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd.

The mission of WHD is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation's workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.