On April 21, 2020, the attorneys at Tittle & Perlmuter filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Amanda Arroyo and her colleagues, employees of Wesleyan Village, LLC, a senior living community located in Elyria. Ms. Arroyo’s lawsuit alleges that Wesleyan Village, along with its management companies Life Care Services and Northwood Health Group, improperly calculated the employees’ wages for the purpose of determining overtime pay, and did not pay employees in a timely manner. The lawsuit alleges that these practices willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Plaintiff Amanda Arroyo is a state-tested nursing assistant (STNA) who began working for Wesleyan Village in March 2016. She took on the vital task of caring for vulnerable senior citizens, and often worked very long hours for relatively low wage. In return, Wesleyan Village knowingly cut corners to avoid fairly compensating them, the lawsuit alleges. Arroyo’s attorneys at Tittle & Perlmuter assert that the company repeatedly acted with “reckless disregard” for federal and state laws regarding fair labor standards and pay.
Wesleyan Village and its management companies’ alleged practices are especially troubling in this era of the COVID-19 crisis. According to a new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 10,000 Coronavirus deaths in the United States occurred in long-term care facilities for elderly patients, a number that includes both residents and staff. Overall, 27 percent of all deaths from the virus in the U.S. can be linked to these facilities. The brave health care workers who are puting their lives on the line to help others during this time of national emergency deserve to be paid every penny that they have earned.
“Tittle & Perlmuter will hold wrongdoing employees accountable for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Ohio Constitution, and Ohio’s Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act,” said Scott Perlmuter, an attorney who focuses on wage and hour cases. “We believe Wesleyan Village and its management companies knowingly violated numerous laws. We are asking them to make things right by paying all wages owed to these hardworking health care employees.”