Home Health Care Company Stuck With $1.1 Million Wage Case Loss

The US Labor Department defeated on appeal a home care firm’s bid for reversal of a ruling returning to its workers nearly $1.1 million in minimum wage and overtime pay.

Congress expressly gave the DOL authority to block third-party employers such as WiCare Home Care Agency LLC from using a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption for companionship services, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said Tuesday. The unpublished opinion said a recent US Supreme Court decision upending four decades of agency deference supports the DOL’s position, not WiCare’s.

The labor agency sued WiCare and owner Luis Hernandez ...