Napa care home must pay back overtime wages
Stayman Estates, a Napa residential care facility, will pay $225,000 in back wages to 25 employees for violating federal overtime law, the Department of Labor said.
The facility violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements, the department’s Wage and Hour Division found after an investigation.
Investigators found that Stayman Estates illegally misclassified caregivers as independent contractors instead of employees, allowing the company to pay workers a daily flat rate regardless of the number of hours they worked. This meant that Stayman did not pay them the required overtime if they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
The misclassification took place before AB5, a California law that makes it more difficult for companies to show workers should be paid as independent contractors, went into effect.
The investigation also found that Stayman Estates failed to maintain accurate records of the number of hours employees worked, another violation of federal law.
This is the second time that Stayman Estates, which owns and operates six care facilities for elderly patients diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, has been cited for federal labor violations. In 2014, an investigation resulted in the employer paying $93,002 in back wages for overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping violations, the department said.
“Stayman Estates has always tried to pay our workers correctly. When mistakes were brought to our attention, we fixed them,” Leni Stayman, owner of Stayman Estates, said. “Most of our workers have been with us for five to 10 years.”
“This investigation serves as a strong signal that the Wage and Hour Division will ensure that workers receive the wages they have legally earned, and that employers compete on a level playing field,” District Director Susana Blanco said in a news release.
Blanco called on employers and employees to call the division “to improve their understanding of the labor standards” to “avoid violations like those found in this investigation.”