GreatCare Inc. and CenterLight Health System, Inc.

On October 1, 2024, Getman, Sweeney & Dunn, PLLC and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice filed a lawsuit against GreatCare Inc. (a homecare agency), CenterLight Health System, Inc., and one or more managed long-term care plans (MLTCs) under contract with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for unlawfully underpaying homecare workers for only 13 hours of their 24-hour shifts in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the New York Labor Law, and the New York Home Care Worker Wage Parity Act. The Plaintiffs for this group action are 24-hour homecare workers and mostly Chinese immigrants who have limited proficiency in English.

Read the complaint here.

Because the identity of the one or more MLTCs under contract with NYSDOH is currently unknown, they are referred to as “Doe MLTCs” in legal documents. CenterLight, Inc. and Doe MLTCs provide in-home personal care services to Medicaid recipients by contracting for the services of homecare workers through GreatCare, Inc. CenterLight and Doe MLTCs were joint employers with GreatCare and made key decisions that determined the terms and conditions of homecare worker employment, including:

• Whether homecare workers would be paid for 13 hours or more for each 24-hour shift worked;
• Whether homecare workers would work a single 24-hour shift or shifts of shorter duration;
• Whether homecare workers would be eligible for overtime pay;
• Whether home care workers would have adequate sleeping accommodations at the home of their care recipients;
• And the scope, amount, and frequency of care provided by homecare workers.

The lawsuit charges that the exploitative conditions set by CenterLight and Doe MLTCs and executed by GreatCare resulted in substantial wage theft of Plaintiffs. By law, employers are required to pay the homecare workers for all 24 hours of their shifts when they are working during those hours. These employers failed to pay their workers minimum wage for all hours worked, overtime wages for hours worked beyond 40 hours per week, and spread of hours pay for hours worked beyond 10 hours a day. They also failed to provide notices of pay rates and pay statements in violation of laws.