Home care aides tend to the needs of people when they are most vulnerable, often putting their own health at risk. A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found that an Atlanta-area home care service failed to pay these essential workers the overtime they earned and are legally due.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Able Mabel Assisted In-Home Care Services Inc. – operating as Able Mabel Home Care – misclassified home health care aides as independent contractors and failed to pay them overtime when they worked over 40 hours in a week, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The investigation revealed that the employer paid the misclassified workers their straight-time rate of pay for each hour they worked.

As a result, the division has recovered $235,501 in back wages for 131 workers.

“The U.S. Department of Labor prioritizes work protections in the care industries and we will vigorously combat misclassification of employees as independent contractors to ensure that this hard-working essential workforce is afforded all the protections the law provides,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven Salazar in Atlanta. “The U.S. Department of Labor encourages employers to contact us or use the multiple tools the division offers to help understand the law, both for their benefit and that of their employees.”