A federal investigation into the pay practices of a Michigan assisted living community prompted its owner to threaten employees with employment termination if they spoke with investigators and to trick workers into revealing whether they cooperated with the investigation, according to a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Labor.
Safe Haven Assisted Living of Haslett LLC and owner Tamesha Porter are accused of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, which protects workers from retaliation for real or perceived cooperation with a DOL investigation.
The complaint, filed Feb. 3 in US District Court Western District of Michigan Southern Division, follows an investigation by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, which conducted an 18-month review of the company’s pay practices.
A review of payroll records from Aug. 16, 2020, through Dec. 12, 2021, alleged that the company and Porter failed to pay affected workers for breaks not taken due to work demands — a violation of FLSA overtime provisions. The DOL obtained a consent judgment in federal court on Jan. 17 requiring Porter and Safe Haven to pay $15,238 in back wages and damages to six employees, along with a $3,618 civil penalty.
The agency alleges that Porter began threatening employees in November 2021 when she learned of the investigation. She allegedly regularly made threats of employment termination and attempted to identify employees whom she suspected had cooperated with the investigation. Those threats reportedly continued through Feb. 7, 2022.
Porter also is accused of acting with hostility toward workers, ignoring them and refusing to speak to them, which reportedly led to the resignations of several employees. Porter also allegedly later contacted a prospective employer of one of those employees and claimed that individuals had engaged in misconduct at Safe Haven.
“Workers dedicated to providing essential care and helping people in need faced threats and intimidation in what became a hostile — and for some, an unbearable — workplace,” Wage and Hour District Director Mary O’Rourke said in a statement. “Porter interfered with a federal investigation and attempted to prevent employees from exercising their protected rights.”
Safe Haven has other Michigan locations in Hastings, Mason, Okemos and Three Rivers, according to the company’s website. Those sites were not named in the DOL investigation or lawsuit. Porter had not responded to a request for comment from McKnight’s Senior Living by the production deadline.
