U.S. Department of Labor Reaches Settlement Agreement With 10 Orange County Residential Care Facilities, Requiring Payment of $173,539 to 72 Employees

SAN DIEGO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with the owner of 10 Orange County residential care facilities to pay 72 employees a total of $173,539 for unpaid overtime.

Investigators with the Department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the owners of Verona Court – operator of residential elder care facilities in Mission Hills and Laguna Niguel – failed to pay employees for time spent working through lunch breaks and attending mandatory training. The employer also paid straight time for overtime hours instead of the federally required time-and-one-half for hours employees worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Additionally, investigators found recordkeeping violations involving inaccurate and incomplete timesheets and payroll records and a lack of records of cash payments.

“Thanks to this settlement, dozens of employees will be paid the wages they rightfully earned,” said Wage and Hour Division Director Rodolfo Cortez, in San Diego. “Working in tandem with our outreach efforts, enforcement like this helps to level the playing field for employers so that no company gains a competitive advantage in the workplace by failing to pay their employees properly.”

Verona Court operates six facilities incorporated as Mission Elder Care Inc. and four facilities incorporated as Laguna Elder Care Inc.

Workers and employers with questions about the FLSA or any of the federal wage laws administered by the Division should call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). All calls are confidential. More information is available online at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.