Milwaukee-area group home operator agrees to pay $27K in back wages, damages

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The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court judgment requiring a Wisconsin residential group home and its owner, Matthew Sebuliba, to pay 27 caregivers a total of $27,184 – representing $13,592 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – after investigators from the department’s Wage and Hour Division identified overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping violations in its review of the employers’ payroll records from March 26, 2021 to March 25, 2023.

In addition to ordering the payment made, the July 12, 2024, order by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin forbids the employers from future violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The company will also pay two employees $2,815 in compensatory damages to resolve allegations that Community Living of Brookfield LLC retaliated against the workers for questioning the employer’s pay practices.

Community Living has also agreed to post the consent judgment at its two residential group homes for senior and disabled adults and to distribute know-your-rights materials about the FLSA to current employees. The company operates Community Living of Brookfield LLC and Best Choice Community Living LLC in Milwaukee.

“Caregivers in group homes provide essential personal and medical assistance to residents that enables them to maintain quality of life and dignity and are often paid some of lowest wages in our nation,” said Wage and Hour District Director Kristin Tout in Minneapolis.

“Employers that retaliate against workers who exercise their rights to question pay practices are clearly violating the law. All employers are responsible for knowing and complying with federal wage laws and paying workers their rightfully earned wages,” Tout added.

In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $31.8 million in back wages for workers in the healthcare industry.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.