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Attorney General Ellison recovers wages owed to low-wage home health and nanny employees

Loving Care Home Services will pay 60 employees $39K in back wages and damages to resolve AG investigation

June 30, 2021 (SAINT PAUL) – Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that as part of a settlement with his office, home health and nanny company Loving Care Home Services, Inc. must pay $39,321 — $1,334 in regular wages, $17,197 in unpaid overtime wages, and $20,790 in statutory damages — to 60 employees to compensate them for failure to pay them all the wages they were owed on time. The Assurance of Discontinuance, filed today in Ramsey County District Court, resolves an investigation by Attorney General Ellison’s office into the company’s wage-payment practices. The case was handled by the Attorney General’s Office Wage Theft Unit that Attorney General Ellison established in 2019.

“Employers must pay employees all the wages they’ve earned — including overtime wages — and pay them on time. No one should take home any less,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I’m pleased that Loving Care Home Services was willing to cooperate with my office and to make things right with its workers. I hope that the damages these employees receive help repair some of the damage they experienced by not getting every dollar they were owed under the law on time.”

Loving Care Home Services is a Minnesota-based company that employs workers in the home health and nanny industries. The Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into Loving Care Home Services after receiving complaints from Loving Care workers that they had not received overtime wages despite sometimes working well above both the 40-hour federal threshold and the 48-hour Minnesota threshold for overtime wages. As a result of the settlement, affected workers will receive their full back wages owed as well as the statutory damages to which they are entitled by Minnesota law.

The settlement also requires Loving Care Home Services to put a written overtime policy in place and to comply with Minnesota’s recordkeeping requirements for employers.

The Attorney General’s Office will contact the workers who were affected by this practice concerning their entitlement to back wages and statutory damages. Workers who provide companionship services to ailing and infirm individuals work long hours — often 24-hour shifts at a time — and provide essential care to the individuals they serve. Many of these employees receive low wages and do not know that they are protected by overtime laws.

Workers with concerns or complaints about systematic violations of state and federal wage laws can contact the Attorney General’s Office through its online complaint form or by calling (651) 296-3353 (Metro area) or (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota).

 

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