Our firm recently filed a class and collective action lawsuit on behalf of home healthcare workers who were paid under a “pay-per-visit” system that disguised how many hours they actually worked. According to the lawsuit, New Mexico Healthcare Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Excelacare, which is a successor to Falcon Healthcare, Inc., failed to pay overtime wages for hours over 40 in a week, and was never paid at all for hours spent:
- Driving between patients’ homes
- Charting and paperwork after visits
- Responding to work texts, emails, and calls outside scheduled hours
- Being on-call for weekend and after-hours patient visits
This isn’t just a home healthcare problem. We see the same patterns across nursing, construction, retail, oilfield services, restaurants, and dozens of other industries: flat rates, day rates, “per-task” pay, or a fixed salary used to make it look like overtime doesn’t apply when the law says otherwise.
Under federal and state law, most hourly, per-job, piece-rate, and salaried workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay for every hour worked over 40 in a week. Some signs your rights may be violated:
- You’re paid a flat fee, day rate, or “per task/visit” rate instead of by the hour
- You do work off-the-clock — before your shift, after it, or on breaks — that’s never paid
- You’re required to travel between job sites or answer calls/texts/emails without pay
- You’re classified as “exempt” or salaried, but your job doesn’t fit an actual exemption
- Your paycheck doesn’t change no matter how many extra hours you work
It costs nothing to find out where you stand.
Bohrer Brady has represented workers in overtime and wage disputes for more than 30 years. If any of this sounds familiar, call us for a free, confidential consultation. There’s no obligation, and we only get paid if you do.
Call the attorneys at Bohrer Brady, LLC for a free, confidential initial consultation.
