South Bay Care Home Workers Owed More Than $718,000: Labor Department

CAMPBELL - Two employers owe more than $718,000 to three dozen care home workers who weren't compensated for overtime hours at seven facilities in Santa Clara County, federal Labor Department officials said Thursday.

Lorraine Cerezo Lim and Luzviminda Cerezo, who operate separate care home businesses, violated laws surrounding minimum wage, overtime and record keeping requirements under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, department officials said.

The pair ran a combined total of seven care homes: five in San Jose and two in Campbell, according to department officials.

Lim owns Loving Quality Care Homes Inc., which was founded and supervised by registered nurses, according to the company's website.

LQC Care Homes serves elderly clients with daily living needs and follows regulations under the state's Department of Social Services, according to the company's website.

Cerezo operates White Oaks Manor, Cerezo Residential Care Home and Ross Senior Care Home, department officials said.

The care home operators owe $359,000 in back wages and another $359,000 in liquidated damages to 32 workers, according to labor department officials.

Instead of receiving a minimum $7.25 an hour, the employees were paid a flat rate of $75 to $103 despite working at least 12 hours in a day for five to six days in a week, department officials said.

"Workers in the residential care industry, who work long hours taking care of our loved ones, often struggle to take care of their own families.

When they are denied hard and rightfully earned wages, it's unacceptable," Susana Blanco, director of the department's Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco, said in a statement Thursday.

"The violations found here are all too common. The resolution of this case sends a strong message that we are committed to making sure that these workers take home every penny they have rightfully earned," Blanco said.

Investigators with the department's wage and hour division also learned that the employers didn't pay workers time and a half when they logged more than 40 hours in a week, according to federal labor officials.

Lim and Cerezo didn't properly document the actual hours their employees worked, which violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, federal labor officials said.

The employers didn't immediately return requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

-Bay City News, image via Brian Bullock/Flickr