Department of Labor & Industry Wins Precedent-Setting Case for Workers

HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Home health aides have stronger workplace protections because of a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that the workers are subject to the overtime provisions of Pennsylvania's Minimum Wage Act, Labor & Industry Secretary Sandi Vito said today.

As a direct result of the Nov. 17, 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Bayada Nurses, Inc. v. Department of Labor & Industry, home health aides employed by an agency are now considered employees entitled to overtime wages under Pennsylvania's Minimum Wage Act.

"This is a victory for all Pennsylvanians. Workers who provide such essential care clearly deserve the full protection of Pennsylvania law and to be compensated fairly," Vito said. "From now on, home health aides employed by an agency will be considered employees, and are entitled to the overtime pay they earn.

"The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance is ready to investigate and defend workers' rights to receive their legally entitled wages," she said.

The department was informed this week that Bayada Nurses Inc. made payments totaling more than $1.4 million to 1,826 home health aides for overtime wages earned between 2008 and 2010. Individual payments ranged from a few dollars to more than $30,000.

The court ruled that the home health aides employed by Bayada did not fall under the domestic services exemption of the Minimum Wage Act, and were not jointly employed by Bayada's clients because they provide services in the clients' homes.

"Staff in the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance are here to protect and defend workers' rights and ensure that they receive the fair compensation they earned," said Robert V. O'Brien, Labor & Industry's executive deputy secretary who oversees the bureau. "Thanks to our bureau's employees, in the past eight years, the bureau has recovered $51.6 million returned to more than 42,000 workers across the state, including the $1.4 million paid to Bayada employees."

More information about workers' rights is available online at www.dli.state.pa.us or by calling the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance at 1-800-932-0665.

Media contact: Christopher Manlove, 717-787-7530

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

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