US Department of Labor investigation of Bowling Green Home Instead operator reveals systemic wage violations in Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee

BOWLING GREEN, KY – What started as an investigation of a single Bowling Green-based caregiving provider became a sweeping review of six other franchise locations across three states when investigators uncovered systemic violations by the employer.

In total, the investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division led to the recovery of $201,356 in back wages for 320 workers. The employer also agreed to correct its non-compliant pay practices. 

An initial investigation of Trusted Senior Care LLC – operator of Home Instead Senior Care in Bowling Green – found violations of the overtime and recordkeeping regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. When investigators became aware of the systemic nature of the violations, they expanded the investigation to include the six other Home Instead franchise locations in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee owned and operated by Brad Cannon. 

Investigators found violations of the  Fair Labor Standards Act in all seven locations, including:  

• Failure to combine all hours worked by employees when they worked in multiple positions within the same workweek, resulting in failure to pay overtime after 40 hours worked in a workweek.
• Failure to count and pay for hours worked while on-call.
• Failure to count and pay for all travel time and work performed before and after scheduled shifts.
• Failure to include certain bonuses into the rate-of-pay when calculating overtime pay, resulting in underpayment of overtime hours.
• Failure to retain records of all hours worked by employees.

In addition, the division found that the employer failed to compensate some nonexempt employees for all of their hours worked at the Bowling Green establishment.

“The recovery of wages earned by hundreds of hard-working caregivers employed by Home Instead facilities in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee demonstrates the division’s uncompromising commitment to essential workers,” explained Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director Richard Blaylock in Louisville, Kentucky. “When employers deny workers the wages they earn, they make it harder for those workers to provide for themselves and their families. By underpaying, they also gain an unfair advantage over other employers who abide by the law.”

Trusted Senior Care is an independently owned and operated Home Instead franchise that specializes in providing companionship services for seniors, such as assistance with household duties, transportation for errands and other non-medical preventative and post-surgical care.

The Wage and Hour Division provides multiple industry-specific tools to help employers understand their responsibilities.

For information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Visit the agency’s website to learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.