Department of Labor recovers $59K in back wages for 64 Mississippi home care workers, assesses $7K in penalties to employer for repeat violations

Employer’s address:            Plantation Pointe Retirement Community 

                                                81 Windsor Boulevard

                                                Columbus, MS 39702

Investigation Sites:               The Arrington LLC, operating as Arrington Assisted Living

                                                 234 Windsor Blvd

                                                 Columbus, MS 39702

                                                Windsor Place Nursing Center Inc.

                                                81 Windsor Boulevard

                                                Columbus, MS 39702

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer at its Arrington Assisted Living location – which provides housing and nursing care, housekeeping and meal preparation services for older adults – failed to carry hours over from the beginning of a workweek into the next pay period when compensating employees on a semi-monthly pay schedule. By doing so, the employer did not pay employees the time-and-a-half rate due when the workweek hours split by the pay period totaled more than 40, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Arrington Assisted Living also failed to compute a weighted average for employees paid two different pay rates in the same workweek. By doing so, the employer paid some employees lower overtime rates for hours worked over 40. In addition, the employer failed to keep accurate pay records as required. 

In a 2022 investigation, the agency found the employer also violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime premiums on shift differential bonuses and weight averages in overtime weeks at its Windsor Place Nursing Center location. 

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered:           $59,417 for 64 workers

Civil Money Penalties Assessed:                                          $7,616                                     

Quote: “Arrington Assisted Living repeatedly shortchanged workers their wages – the same workers who provide essential care for our loved ones – depriving those employees the means they need to support themselves and their loved ones,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “The Wage and Hour Division will not tolerate employers repeatedly or willfully violating workers’ rights. Workers must be paid their hard-earned wages.” 

Background: In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division concluded more than 1,100 investigations in healthcare industries. These investigations recovered nearly $15 million in back wages for more than 22,000 workers. 

On Nov. 13, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will present a webinar on workers’ rights and protections for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders as part of its ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve employer compliance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The event will occur as the nation marksHome Care and Hospice Month in November. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST. Attendance is free but registration is required. 

Get more information on how the Wage and Hour Division is focused on improving compliance by residential care, nursing facilities, home health services and other care-focused industry employers by protecting workers’ rights and protections, nationwide. 

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. Workers who feel they may not be getting the wages they earned or are misclassified as independent contractors may contact a Wage and Hour Division representative in their state through a list and interactive online map on the agency’s website. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android or IOS Timesheet App for free and available in English and Spanish.  Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.