A Montgomery County The home health care agency did not pay workers overtime, according to the suit a US Department of Labor investigation. The company was ordered to pay $810,320 in back wages and damages to 196 workers, according to a consent judgment.

Wyncote Wellness LLC paid employees with separate checks for each client instead of bundling their hours together, the DOL investigation found. The company paid overtime when workers worked more than 40 hours with a single client.

The investigation also found that workers often reported working more hours than they were paid and were not paid for time spent traveling between clients. The company also failed to properly record employee hours, the DOL found.

“Home health workers provide vital services to the most vulnerable members of our communities, and their work deserves respect and fair compensation,” James Cain, DOL’s Philadelphia district director of wages and hours, said in a statement. “This enforcement action will help ensure workers are paid their full earnings and remind other employers of their obligations under the law.”

The company will pay $810,320 in back wages and damages to employees for the violations that occurred between Aug. 12, 2019, and Aug. 7, 2022, according to court documents. The money owed to employees ranges from $22 to $26,319, according to a DOL spokesman. The company will also pay a civil penalty of $10,000.

The company did not respond to requests for comment.

The Philadelphia area saw multiple overtime pay violations in the home health care industry in recent years. A key issue is that Medicaid does not pay agencies extra for overtime in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, The Inquirer reported in 2022. Overtime is hard to avoid because of the shortage of health care workers.

In January, a Northeast Philadelphia a home health care company was commissioned to pay over $1.64 million in back wages to workers after non-payment of employees for the corresponding overtime hours. In May, a home care company in Delaware County was ordered to pay over 1 million dollars for not paying workers overtime.