D.C. home health-care workers file class-action suit alleging wage theft

D.C. home health-care workers filed a class action lawsuit against four agencies Wednesday, alleging that they were cheated out of wages and denied overtime and sick pay.The suit againstfour local agencies Capitol View Home Health Agency, Human Touch, T&N Nursing and VMT Home Health comes a week before home health-care workers and other low-wage workers across the country are expected to rally for a $15 wage on April 15 as part of the Fight for 15 movement.

The suit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, argues theagencies violated labor laws over a span of three years, paying workers below D.C.s living wage, which was $13.60 in 2014. Employees of D.C. government contractors are required to earnthis living wage a wage thats considerably higher than the citys minimum wage of $9.50 per hour.

This is the second lawsuitof its kind. In December, D.C.s health-care workers filed suit against three other home-care agencies, similarly alleging that workers werent paid for all of their time and were not provided sick days.

T&N Nursing and VMT Home Health both were part of a federal investigation thatdiscoveredthat D.C. operators of home-care agencies and personal assistants were operating a Medicaid scheme, stealing tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. Because of the revelations, these twoagencies were cut off from Medicaid funding and its during this time that many home health-care workers say they werent paid.

I cant pay rent and support my family when my employer is stealing my already-meager wages,plaintiff Stephanie Johnson, an employee of VMT Home Health, saidin a press release. For too long weve been taken advantage of by these agencies, and its time that we receive the pay that weve worked hard for.

Capitol Home Health Agency declined to comment. The other agencies did not return requests for comment.

Claims lodged by home health care workers are growing acrossthe country. Thedemand forhome health-care workersis fast growing as baby boomers grow older. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the country will need an additional 1 million such workers by 2022. According to a recent reportfrom the National Employment Law Project, the nations 2million home health-care workers had an average annual salary of $18,598 in 2013, compared to the nationalaverage of $46,440 for salaried workers that year.

With help from theService Employees International Union 1199, D.C.s home health care workers are in the process of trying to organize. U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez spoke to hundreds of the citys workers at a town hall style rally last month, urging them to fight for higher wages.

There are an estimated6,000 home health care workers working in D.C. and advocates say they could be owed up to $150 million indamages.

Perry Stein covers the happenings in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.