The California Labor Commissioner’s Office has cited a Daly City senior care facility for multiple wage theft violations affecting 48 workers. The workers are owed more than $639,000 for underpaid minimum wage, overtime and contract wages as well as other penalties.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office opened an investigation at Amore Retirement Living last June after receiving a complaint that the employer did not have workers’ compensation insurance. Investigators found that the 53-bed facility lacked coverage for the previous five years, and uncovered many other labor law violations.
Investigators at the Labor Commissioner’s Office learned that Amore Retirement Living over a 28-month period ending in October 2017 did not provide overtime or meal periods for their employees who worked an average of 58 hours a week. An audit of payroll and time records also showed that 29 employees worked split shifts without being paid the one-hour premium required in order to provide around-the-clock care to the residents.
The citations against Amore Retirement Living, which total $708,521 including civil penalties, name both the care home’s licensee Krysella Trismeo Corporation and its chief executive officer, Sheryll Miranda-Sunga, as jointly liable for the wage theft.
The investigation determined that the employer owes workers $623,871 in unpaid minimum wages and overtime, liquidated damages, meal period and wage statement violations, split shift premiums and waiting time penalties, with an additional $7,766 for contract wages due for 40 of the workers. The citations also include $84,650 in civil penalties due to the state for minimum wage, overtime, split shift premium, meal period and itemized wage statement violations. Krysella Trismeo Corporation was cited $469,103 on June 20, 2018 for failure to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance coverage.
When workers are paid less than minimum wage, they are entitled to liquidated damages that equal the amount of underpaid wages plus interest. Waiting time penalties are imposed when the employer intentionally fails to pay all wages due to the employee at the time of separation. This penalty is calculated by taking the employee’s daily rate of pay and multiplying it by the number of days the employee was not paid, up to a maximum of 30 days.