Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- The U.S. Department of Labor has sued two Westchester County, N.Y., suppliers of health care personnel for alleged violations of the overtime requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, names as defendants Hurtig-Evans International, Inc., New Rochelle, N.Y.; HEI Inc. (doing business as Hurtig-Evans Home Care Services), Buchanan, N.Y.; and officers Phillip K.C. Casimir and Anisha Kiran Casimir.

The suit alleges that, since March 1, 2004, the defendants willfully and repeatedly required 99 hourly-paid employees to work more than 40 hours per workweek without properly compensating them for overtime. The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week.

“The defendants supply nurses and aides to hospitals, nursing homes and group homes. These employees perform a vital service and are entitled to be fully compensated for all the hours they work,” said Sonia Rybak, assistant district director of the Hudson Valley Area Office of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. “When employers fail to provide proper payment for workers, the department will take necessary actions, including a lawsuit, to obtain it.”

The suit asks the court to permanently prohibit the defendants from future violations of the FLSA and for an order requiring them to pay employees the overtime back wages due, as well as an equal amount in liquidated damages or prejudgment interest.

This case was investigated by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division Hudson Valley Area Office in White Plains, N.Y. The suit was filed by the department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in Manhattan.

For more information about the FLSA, call the U.S. Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet atwww.wagehour.dol.gov.

Chao v. Hurtig-Evans, International Inc. et al; Civil Action Number: 07-CV-3332

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