Skyrocketing healthcare costs have forced managers and administrators working at a wide variety of medical facilities to reconsider operational models.
One area of healthcare that has experienced a dramatic change is the healthcare provided for patients that cannot fend for themselves.
Instead of taking care of patients on site, many hospitals and long term care facilities have turned to the home healthcare model to save money.
The home health care industry has witnesses tremendous growth over the past 10 years and because of the growth, the high demand for home health care workers has translated into higher compensation.
However, as with other types of professions, home healthcare workers are vulnerable to a practice referred to as “wage theft.”
This illegal practice takes many forms, but the two most common types of wage theft is underpaying for hours worked and cheating home healthcare workers out of overtime wages.
Home healthcare workers do not operate on a time clock, which means they often put in more than 40 hours per week. Some employers like to fudge the number when it comes to paying home healthcare workers overtime wages.
State Payday Requirements for Home Healthcare Workers
Many states have created strict guidelines for employers to follow when it comes to payday issues, such as how often to pay employees and the method used to deliver funds.
Some states require employers to give employees the option to receive payday cards, which work in the same way as bank debit cards.
Other states require a paper trail of at least a document that presents the federally mandated wage and tax information that many of us used to see on paycheck stubs. The state Department of Labor website should present information that concerns wage theft cases.
Wage payment violations happen in every industry, as well as both small businesses and large corporations. Federal law mandates workers should receive overtime pay over 40 hours worked in a workweek.
Compensation for overtime is at least 1.5 times the rate of standard pay. States like Alaska, Colorado, and California have established daily overtime regulations that complement the federal guidelines set for weekly overtime pay.
If you work as a home healthcare employee, and your company has cheated you out of overtime pay, you need to know the steps for getting the money you deserve.
What to Do If You are a Victim of Wage theft
With a strong passion and unwavering dedication to helping patients recover from devastating illnesses and injuries, you put other people’s interests above your financial concerns.
Nonetheless, you should not take wage theft sitting down. Make sure to maintain a well-organized paper and digital file of all your paycheck documents.
For the issue of overtime pay, you have to demonstrate you worked the hours claimed beyond the 40-hour per workweek threshold.
Your employer should have both a digitized and paperwork based time keeping system that you can access when the time comes to present your case.
Discuss the issue with your employer first, before taking your complaint to the next level. Some employers simply make mistakes or the system that accounts for employee compensation breaks down and produces erroneous calculations.
If your employer balks at the request for overtime back pay or any other reason, move your case up the complaint ladder by contacting the state Department of Labor. Most state governments have made taking care of employee wage concerns a top legal priority.
When is It time to Contact an Employment Lawyer?
Even if your state Department of Labor forces your employer to compensate you for wage theft, you have the right to speak with an employment attorney to see if you have other legal options.
A growing number of states allow employees to file criminal charges for wage theft. You can also use the judicial system to file a civil lawsuit against your employer.
Maybe wage theft caused you to miss a payment on a credit card account that inevitably led to a downgrading of your credit score.
An employment lawyer who decides to take your case will most likely work on a retainer basis, which means you pay nothing unless your attorney successfully argues your case in front of a civil court judge.
In addition, your employment attorney should be able to schedule you for a free case evaluation.
Do not allow your employer to get away with wage theft. Schedule a free case evaluation today to determine the best course of legal action.
