A Bay Area in-home care company was ordered to pay $134,682 in back wages and damage for failing to pay 13 employees minimum wage and overtime in the course of two years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Ana Dayeh, the proprietor of Ageway Boarding Care, agreed last Monday to pay that amount for back wages between November 2011 and November 2013, according to a filing in the court of U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg.
The company’s website describes it as a family-owned business founded by Dayeh more than 20 years ago providing in-home care for the elderly in the greater Bay Area.
Caregivers employed by the company worked an average of 53 hours per week but the company did not keep careful records of hours worked and did not provide overtime pay for hours worked over a 40-hour workweek, according to the Labor Department.
State investigators found the workers wages amounted to as little as $3.25 per hour, Labor Department officials said.
“Care givers in residential care home facilities work extremely hard taking care of our nation’s elderly, sick and disabled,” Labor Department district director in San Francisco Susana Blanco said in a statement. “Taking advantage of these vulnerable workers is just as unacceptable as it is illegal.”
The company also must reform its record keeping procedures to make sure that wages paid are in compliance with minimum wage laws in the future, according to court documents.
Scott Morris, Bay City News
