The part owner of a Pittsburgh-area assisted living provider has paid more than $1 million in back wages and damages to 47 workers after a Department of Labor investigation found that the company violated federal labor law, the Labor Department announced Thursday.

Kelley Oliver-Hollis, part-owner and operator of Serenitycare, paid the department $1.05 million as part of its recovery for the affected workers, according to a consent judgment approved Sept. 20 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The amount includes approximately $526,000 in back wages and $526,000 in damages covering violations between Nov. 23, 2018, and Dec. 4, 2021.

The employer, which owns and operates six homes and one training facility in the Pittsburgh area, also paid a $44,741 civil money penalty for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Labor Department Sec. Marty Walsh “does not waive his right to conduct future investigations,” including potential violations that occurred after Dec. 4, 2021, or affected employees other than those involved in this consent judgment, the department said.

The court’s action partially resolves litigation against Oliver-Hollis and Serenitycare filed by the department’s Office of the Solicitor in July.

The investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, according to the Labor Department, found that Oliver-Hollis and her company violated the FLSA by:  

  • Deducting advanced leave from two employees’ final paychecks, which meant they were paid less than the federally required $7.25 hourly minimum wage.
  • Willfully misclassifying direct care workers and direct care leads as independent contractors and improperly classifying them as exempt from overtime. By doing so, the employer denied the workers the required overtime premium for hours worked more than 40 in a workweek, the Labor Department said.
  • Paying employees straight time for scheduled shift hours and not actual hours worked. In some cases, the employer paid straight time for overtime hours in cash and did not record the payments, according to the Labor Department.
  • Coercing some employees to become independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime.
  • Not keeping accurate totals of the daily and weekly hours that employees worked.

Oliver-Hollis also asked some workers to write letters refusing the back wages and to falsely claim that they had chosen to be independent contractors for financial gain, the department said.

“Federal law requires employers to comply with all federal employee protections, including proper classification and payment of all legally earned wages,” John DuMont, district director in Pittsburgh for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, said in a statement.

The court judgment forbids Oliver-Hollis and Serenitycare from violating the FLSA in the future, according to Regional Solicitor of Labor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia. She and the company must make and keep “adequate” wage and hour records, not interfere with the Labor Department’s continuing investigation, and not retaliate against direct or indirect employees who report suspected labor law violations or cooperate in an investigation. Oliver-Hollis and Serenitycare also are prohibited from discussing with employees their communication or potential communication with the Department of Labor.

Additional information about employer responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including the minimum wage, misclassification of employees as independent contractors and recordkeeping requirements, is posted on the Labor Department’s website.

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