Visiting Angels Home Health Aides Travel Time FLSA Class Action

This lawsuit is a collective and class action against Axt Home Care, LLC, which does business as Visiting Angels, and two individuals, Travis Dunham and Mai Dunham, who own and operate the company. The complaint alleges labor law violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Ohio Overtime Law in the treatment of Visiting Angels home health aides (HHAs).

This action involves an FLSA Collective Class and an Ohio Class:

The FLSA Collective Class is all present and former full-time hourly homecare providers, including HHAs, employed by Visiting Angels, who worked at more than one location in the same workday, between June 21, 2018 and the final disposition of this case.

The Ohio Class is all present and former full-time hourly homecare providers, including HHAs, employed by Visiting Angels, who worked at more than one location in the same workday, between June 21, 2019 and the final disposition of this case.

The plaintiff in this case, Patricia Rapp, worked for Visiting Angels as an HHA from around May 22 to November 213, 2020, at an hourly rate of around $11.

At times, HHAs must travel from one work location to another as part of their workday. The complaint alleges that Visiting Angels has not been paying them for this travel time. It claims that the company should be paying them for it under what it calls the continuous workday rule. This time must also be considered in determining the number of hours worked per week and whether the employee must be paid overtime.

According to the complaint Rapp worked more than forty hours per week. It claims she “sometimes worked 48 to upwards of 82 to 100 hours in a workweek.” The complaint adds, “Failure to pay this compensable time and failure to record it as time worked resulted in unpaid overtime in any weeks where an employee worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.”

Employers are required to keep accurate records of the hours their employees work, but the complaint alleges that they did not do this because they did not record all hours worked and did not properly figure their employees’ hours and determine overtime.

The claims made as to violations of the FLSA apply to the FLSA collective class members; they are meant to opt in to the case during the course of the action. Claims under Ohio laws apply to the Ohio class members, who may claim class membership after the case has been resolved.

The complaint asks for liquidated damages; litigation costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees; and pre- and post-judgment interest.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Employment
Tags: Employment Violations, Not Paid for All Hours Worked, Unpaid Overtime