GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The owner of Safe Haven Assisting Living of Haslett LLC has been ordered by a federal court to pay $15,238 in back wages and damages to six healthcare workers after failing to pay for untaken meal breaks.
According to the Department of Labor, owner Tamesha Porter automatically deducted meal breaks from employees’ time, even when their duties forced them to work during or through the breaks. This incurred violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Safe Haven Assisting Living changed its policy and began automatically deducting meal breaks from employees paid time in August 2020, which is shortly after Porter purchased the facility.
A facility manager did routinely make notations on timecards when employees worked through breaks to make sure they were fully paid. However, Porter ignored the manager’s reminders and failed to pay employees for the break time.
Safe Haven Assisting Living Facility LLC will also have to pay a civil money penalty of $3,618.
“Despite knowing her obligations to pay employees who missed their meal breaks to provide patient care and overcome staffing shortages, the owner of Save Haven Assisting Living of Haslett chose to ignore the law and the reminders of a facility manager,” said Wage and Hour District Director Mary O’Rourke. “Caregivers who deliver essential services to help people unable to care for themselves are among our nation’s lowest paid workers, and these workers depend upon every dollar earned to support themselves and their families.”
