Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- A Los Angeles area corporation, five of its subsidiaries, and a principal have agreed to pay $1.1 million in back wages and penalties to settle federal court charges that they violated the minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, and record-keeping provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

A consent judgment entered in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles was signed by Emmanuel Bernabe, Sr., on behalf of La Canada-based Pleasant Care Corporation and corporate subsidiaries Atlas Care Enterprises, Inc., Ember Care Corporation, PCC Health Services, Inc., SNF Properties, Inc., and Stockton Edison Healthcare Corporation.

The firms and Mr. Bernabe were named in a federal court complaint following an investigation of 37 facilities by the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. Under the terms of the consent judgment, 937 employees and former employees will receive $910,000 in unpaid minimum wages and overtime pay. Defendants will also pay $120,000 in civil penalties for wage and child labor violations and $70,000 in pre-judgment interest on the unpaid wages. By signing the consent judgment, the firms and their principal agreed to adhere to the FLSA in the future.

Wage and Hour investigators cited several practices by which federal minimum wage and overtime requirements were violated. The FLSA requires employees receive wages of at least $5.15 per hour and not less than one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for their work in excess of 40 hours a workweek. Some employees received a daily wage yielding less than the minimum wage. Some were paid a straight hourly rate regardless of the number of hours worked, and the work hours of some were divided among more than one facility to keep their work hours reported at any one work site below 40 hours a workweek.

The Department assessed a $3,000 civil money penalty for alleged repeat violations of FLSA child labor provisions. Investigators cited two instances where 15-year-olds worked more hours than allowed, or later than 7 p.m. on a day when school was in session. A 15-year-old was also involved in cooking, which is usually off limits to workers younger than 16. The child labor provisions limit the hours and times that youth under 16 may work, and restrict teens under 18 from working in occupations declared hazardous by the Secretary of Labor.

"This investigation involved a coordinated effort by six district offices," said Sam Perez, director of the Wage Hour office in Glendale, who coordinated the investigations. "It demonstrates the ability and the commitment of the Labor Department to enforce federal labor laws with employers with multiple locations."

For more information about the federal wage and hour, or child labor laws, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the Glendale district office at (213) 894-6375. Information is also available on the Internet at www.dol.gov.

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