Megan K. Mechak
Thu, 02/02/2023
The owners of six now-shuttered D.C. Assisted living facilities will pay over $1.5 million for failing to properly compensate their front-line health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Azure Health Services and its former owners required their staff to work twenty-four hour shifts for fourteen consecutive days, but only paid them for 18 hours per day, in violation of D.C. law. According to the Office of the Attorney General and the workers, this practice shorted the employees of six hours of overtime pay per day.
According to OAG, Azure ran six care facilities for D.C. residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, employing about 50 employees in caregiving, counseling, and support roles. The company shut its facilities down in June 2021.
After receiving a complaint in late 2021, OAG commenced an investigation, ultimately filing a lawsuit against Azure in December 2021.
$1,310,000 of the settlement will be paid to the impacted workers, and the remaining settlement monies are penalties owed to D.C.’s government for violating the Minimum Wage Revision Act. The MWRA requires employers to pay workers a minimum wage (presently $16.10/hour) and overtime rates of 1.5 times their hourly wage when they work over 40 hours in a given week.
MSE represents workers, including employees at assisted living facilities, whose employers have not paid overtime owed. For more information visit: https://mselaborlaw.com/practice-areas/unpaid-regular-pay-overtime. If you believe your employer has not paid you for all of the hours that you worked, please contact MSE at [email protected].
