A federal court awarded $35.8 million in back wages and damages to 6,000 current and former workers of Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services, as a result of one of the largest Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) judgments in the nation.

Comprehensive, which operates 15 skilled nursing facilities in Pennsylvania, willfully denied workers overtime pay, a U.S. Department of Labor probe found. The judgment is the latest step to recoup wages and damages, jointly or severally, from Comprehensive and its owner and CEO, Samuel Halper.

Comprehensive failed to pay employees for all hours worked, including work done during meal breaks, and also failed to incorporate all promised compensation, including non-discretionary bonuses and shift differentials.

Staff were also incorrectly treated as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements, so that Comprehensive could avoid paying overtime. The probe found that the operator didn’t keep accurate records of hours employees worked either, along with compensation due for those hours.

“The U.S. District Court’s decisive and historic ruling that Sam Halper and his nursing facilities willfully violated labor laws affirmed the Department of Labor’s position that the employers committed wage theft intentionally,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda.

Comprehensive refused to resolve violations administratively, leading to the PA federal court filing lawsuit filing in 2018 – there were 50 testifying witnesses and more than 600 exhibits.

The operator was previously involved in a legal saga culminating in a guilty verdict for the corporate entity last December, in which two of its facilities were making false statements in connection with the payment of health care benefits. The facilities were also found guilty of obstructing and impeding the investigation and proper administration of a matter within the jurisdiction of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Individual defendants, including Halper, were found not guilty on all counts in this case.

“Far too often, our investigations find that workers who provide essential care services to those who need them most are not receiving their hard-earned wages from employers,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting workers’ rights to be paid fully and fairly and holding employers who violate these rights accountable.”

Halper, Comprehensive and the individual facilities are all permanently forbidden from further FLSA violations, according to the DOL.