Overtime Pay for Home Health Care Workers Complaint Remains in Court

Los Angeles County has presented a motion to throw out a legal complaint in federal court seeking overtime pay for home health care workers.

According to Law360, three attorneys representing LA County Department of Public Social Services put in a request to have the lawsuit thrown out based on the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The eleventh amendment is subject to varying interpretations but essentially gives individual states immunity from being sued in federal courts by citizens of other states.

As it was applied to this overtime pay for home health care workers complaint, it was argued that the county should be considered a branch of the State of California and therefore immune from legal consequences and ramifications from out-of-state plaintiffs.

The suit was filed by two plaintiffs, Trina R. and Sasha W., and they wish to represent a Class of 169,000 home health care workers that were denied adequate overtime pay. They are asserting a claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for unpaid overtime pay for home health care workers.

According to Law360, the argument on behalf of LA County’s counsel was weak at best. Federal judge Percy Anderson refused to throw out the complaint against the county and wrote a lengthy decision which put forth his evaluative process on this matter.

The judge wrote about a five-question evaluative test for determining whether an organization is acting as an arm of the wider state. This five-question test has been used in the Ninth Circuit. The questions are as follows:

1. If a money judgment were levied against the organization would the state use its funds to satisfy the fine?
2. Does the organization have the ability to own property in its name entirely independently?
3. Or, does the organization have to dually sign for property in its name and in the name of the state?
4. Does the organization perform some of the duties of the central state government?
5. Can the organization sue or be sued?

According to the judge’s decision, LA County only could be considered to meet the standard for extending state immunity based on question four. The County was in some respects performing duties of the central state government by carrying out the aims of the In-Home Supportive Services Program (IHSS), which is a state-based program. Nevertheless, according to the federal judge, the state and the county cooperated in a joint relationship of employing home health care workers.

Judge Percy Anderson did question the class period that was put forth by the two plaintiffs in this case. While the Plaintiffs’ wanted the overtime effective date to begin on Jan. 1, 2015, the judge changed the collection period for unpaid overtime pay for home health care workers to Nov. 12, 2015 through Jan. 31, 2016. This mirrored the date that state began compensating the counties for overtime pay.

The Overtime Pay for Home Health Care Workers Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-04239, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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