DC Homecare Workers
We have learned through our work with SEIU Local 1199 that many, if not all, of the District of Columbia Home Health Agencies providing home health services to Medicaid recipients in the District of Columbia may be violating the rights of their workers to mandatory pay required under the law.
McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP has successfully represented many home health aides and homecare workers local to Washington, D.C. who have experienced these significant violations to their pay and work hours, which include but are not limited to:
- Not receiving the mandatory D.C. living wage (currently $14.50 per hour)
- Not being paid on a timely basis
- Not being provided with paid sick leave
- Not properly being paid overtime compensation under federal and District of Columbia law
The District of Columbia requires its government contractors to pay a “living wage” to its employees. D.C. Code § 2-220.03(a). The living wage is currently $14.50 per hour. In 2014, the District’s living wage was $13.60; the living wage was $13.40 in 2013, $12.50 in 2012, and $11.75 in 2011. 7 DCMR 1002. Home health aides who provide services through a home care agency that receives funding from the District are among the types of employees entitled to be paid a living wage. A failure to pay home health aides a living wage, as well as a failure to timely pay home health aids, is a violation of the District’s Wage Payment and Collection Law (“WPCL”).
Under the WPCL, home health aide employees are entitled to bring an action for unpaid wages and liquidated damages “for and on behalf of all employees similarly situated.” D.C. Code § 32-1308(a). If the claim is successful, employees are entitled to recover the unpaid wages plus an additional amount as liquidated damages and penalties, as well as, at the court’s discretion, costs and fees and reasonable attorney’s fees. D.C. Code § 32-1308(b).
In addition, home health aides who are not provided with at least some days of paid sick leave may be entitled to back pay as well as penalty payments for each day that was not provided. The specific amount of paid sick days to which you are entitled depends on the size of your employer.
If you have worked for a D.C. Home Health Agency providing Medicaid services at any time from 2011 to the present, please contact us to learn more about your rights. You may either call us at (202) 833-8855 or email us by clicking here.
For additional on-line resources, click here to visit the Department of Labor’s resource page for direct care workers.
