Employees of Direct Home Health Care, Inc. filed a lawsuit on October 14, 2016, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota alleging violations of federal overtime law. The named plaintiffs, home health care workers, bring their claims individually and on behalf of similarly situated employees who worked for Direct Home Health Care.
The Complaint alleges that from January 2015 (when federal overtime regulations were revised to provide overtime protections to home health care workers employed through agencies) to the present, Direct Home Health Care failed to pay its home health care workers the legally required overtime premium, which is one and one-half (1.5) times their regular hourly rate for all overtime hours worked. Instead, the Complaint alleges that Direct Home Health Care shorted the home health care workers by paying them for overtime hours at a straight time rate. The case is filed as a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action. The named plaintiffs seek unpaid overtime wages and double damages.
Plaintiffs' attorney Michele R. Fisher of Nichols Kaster, PLLP explained, "When the Department of Labor implemented new home health aide overtime regulations, effective January 2015, it made clear that home health aides employed through agencies must be fairly compensated at time-and-a-half when they work overtime hours. These workers spend significant hours caring for those who have trouble caring for themselves and should be fairly compensated when they work overtime doing so."
Plaintiffs are represented by Michele R. Fisher from Nichols Kaster, PLLP, which has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California and Scott E. Brady of Bohrer Brady, LLC in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The case is entitled, Mayfield-Dillard et al. v. Direct Home Health Care, Inc. No.16-CV-03489 (District of Minnesota).
Additional information about how to make a claim for overtime pay in the case may be found at www.nka.com or by calling Nichols Kaster, PLLP toll free at (877) 344-4628.
