Pennsylvania Secures Back Pay for Direct-Care Workers
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) has helped to secure back pay for as many as 1,300 direct-care workers who lost their jobs after their employer was indicted for Medicaid fraud, the Philadelphia Tribune reported on August 14.
Earlier this year, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane alleged that Infinite Care, Inc., a home care agency that provided services for people with disabilities, billed Medicaid approximately $1 million for services it never provided.
After a grand jury indicted it on charges of fraud, the Philadelphia-based Infinite Care shut down in March, without compensating aides for their last two weeks of work.
In the intervening months, DLI, along with lawyers at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, teamed to secure nearly $750,000 to pay the workers what they were owed.
“The wages will help the workers and their families get back on the right track after an upsetting setback, and the money going into the local economy will help to strengthen the area’s economic future,” DLI Secretary Kathy Manderino said in a July 27 press release.
— by Matthew Ozga
