Almost 150 senior living caregivers in California will share in a $5.5 million settlement, the state’s largest judgment in a residential care facility wage theft case.
The settlement includes a $2 million award announced Dec. 6 by the California labor commissioner’s office, bringing the eventual payout to caregivers at Adat Shalom Board & Care to $5.5 million. Adat Shalom operated six assisted living communities in West Hills, CA, and provided services for residents living with dementia or Parkinson’s disease, as well as hospice care.
A seven-year investigation into the company found that from July 2014 to July 2017, live-in workers at Adat Shalom’s facilities were paid less than the minimum wage, were denied overtime and did not receive meal or rest breaks, according to the labor commissioner. The state said that workers cared for older adult residents 24 hours a day, six days a week, but were only paid for six hours each day.
The company also reportedly withheld pay rates and hours worked from pay stubs.
The state opened an investigation in 2017 after receiving a report of labor law violations from the Pilipino Workers Center, a nonprofit, community-based organization that advocates for low-wage workers, including residential care workers.
The California labor commissioner’s office issued $7 million in citations against the company and owner Angelica Reingold in 2018, including $2.3 million in citations for underpayment of minimum wages, $1.9 million in citations for unpaid overtime wages, $128,000 in citations for meal period violations, and $2.7 million in citations for liquidated damages. The state also leveled $175,000 in civil penalties for nonpayment of overtime and minimum wages.
Reingold appealed the citations, but the California Department of Industrial Relations upheld them in October 2021 with some modifications, including a decrease in the amount of minimum wages owed and an increase in the amount owed in overtime and meal break premiums. The labor commissioner’s office later filed a lawsuit to reverse the transfer of assets, resulting in the $5.5 million settlement.
“For years, the employer paid these caregivers less than $3 an hour and attempted to avoid liability by hiding assets,” Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said in a statement. “Our team took the employer to court to stop the illegal transfer of assets.”
The settlement also includes an agreement that Reingold and Adat Shalom no longer will operate any residential care business in California.
