Hey Compliance Warriors!
If the DOL comes knocking at your door, PLEEEEEZZZZZ don’t blow them off!
A federal court has ordered the owner of a Michigan senior home care services company be imprisoned if she continues to ignore a March 2023 federal court order to provide U.S. Department of Labor investigators with time and pay records, despite being in contempt of court since Sept. 27, 2023, and assessed $250 for each day she refused to comply.
On Nov. 28, 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman of the Eastern District of Michigan directed the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest Rosie Guthrie, owner of Genesis Homecare Services, and that she be held until the requested records are provided.
The action is the latest step in litigation filed by the department in federal court in November 2022 after Guthrie refused to comply repeatedly with the department’s Wage and Hour Division requests for documents needed for an investigation opened in 2022. The court ordered Guthrie and Genesis Homecare Services to comply with the department’s administrative subpoena on March 15, 2023.
“The court has upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority to investigate and obtain information about wages, hours and other employment practices and question employees to determine if an employer is complying with federal law. The court has ordered Rosie Guthrie confined until she complies with the court’s orders and produces the documents that will allow the department to complete its compliance review,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago. “Complying with administrative subpoenas issued by the department is not optional, and the department will pursue all avenues to enforce the law.”
The arrest warrant issued by the court orders Guthrie be held until she cooperates.
“The opening of a Wage and Hour Division investigation does not mean we will find violations. By refusing to cooperate, Rosie Guthrie now faces imprisonment,” said Regional Wage and Hour Administrator Michael Lazzeri in Chicago. “Our investigation of Genesis Homecare Services is part of our broader focus on the home care staffing industry — one in which we often identify violations — to protect the rights of women and people in marginalized communities employed in the industry who depend on every dollar they earn.”
In 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered $14.9 million in back wages for healthcare employees nationwide. As the aging U.S. population grows, employment in healthcare support occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2022 to 2032 – faster than the average for all occupations.
Genesis Homecare Services provides home care staffing needs to assist seniors and others with limited mobility to live independently in their homes by providing home care services. The company serves the greater Detroit area including Wayne, Lower Oakland, Macomb and Montgomery counties.
Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.
Su v. Rosie Guthrie, Genesis Homecare Services LLC
Case No. 2:22-mc-51667-MFL-APP
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