Florida company shorted its home healthcare providers $33,000 in pay, Labor says
A Florida company that provides home healthcare workers in The Villages retirement community, among other places, ponied up $33,626 after not paying those caregivers properly, the U.S. Department of Labor said.
That money, Labor said, went to 22 employees of Florida Caregivers, $1,528.45 per worker.
State records say Florida Caregivers is run out of Crystal River by president Katherine Tyre and vice president Colleen Gaines. A phone message from the Miami Herald wasn’t returned.
Labor says its Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Florida Caregivers “misclassified caregivers as independent contractors rather than employees.”
So, when they worked more than 40 hours a week, no overtime was paid. This violates the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“These essential workers deserve to take home every penny of their hard-earned wages,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff said in a statement. “Employers who arbitrarily decide to treat employees as independent contractors hurt not only the affected workers, but also other employers who pay their employees as the law requires.”
The Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website contains information on how to file a complaint. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Florida company shorted its home healthcare providers $33,000 in pay, Labor says."
