Pleasanton Residential Care Facility Ordered to Pay $176,000 in Back Wages

A group of Pleasanton residential care facilities have been ordered to pay employees more than $176,000 in back pay and damages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the company had failed to pay them the federal minimum wage or legally required overtime.

The department found that the owners of three Serene Care facilities in Pleasanton had paid a dozen live-in employees a flat daily rate for eight hours of work, which did not reflect the hours they actually worked. The company also failed to pay overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. In practice, the employees made as little as $6.71 an hour, according to Michael Eastwood, an assistant district director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

“Workers who provide for our loved ones around-the-clock at residential care facilities deserve to be compensated fairly and lawfully,” said Susana Blanco, district manager of the department’s Wage and Hour Division office in San Francisco, in a statement today. “These employees will now receive the hard-earned wages owed to them.”

“Other employers in this industry, who may be shortchanging their workers in this way, should take note and take corrective action immediately,” Blanco said.

The Wage and Hour Division has found that Bay Area residential care facilities and nursing homes have underpaid more than 1,300 workers by millions of dollars in recent years. Workers were routinely asked to work 10 to 14 hour days, six days a week, but only paid for eight hours a day or a flat weekly salary regardless of the hours worked, officials said. In some cases workers were required to stay on-site overnight, but not paid for on-call time, and were forced to sleep on the floor during these times, officials said.

Between 2011 and 2014, more than $6.8 million in wage and overtime violations occurred, department officials said. A representative for Serene Care could not be reached immediately for comment.

By Bay City News

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