JusticeWorks Youthcare Failed to Pay Case Management Workers Proper Overtime, Lawsuit Alleges

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Government contractor JusticeWorks Youthcare, Inc. faces a proposed class and collective action over its alleged failure to pay workers proper overtime wages.

According to the 13-page lawsuit, the social services company, which provides case management services to children, youth and families in 40 Pennsylvania counties and several states, has misclassified case management employees as exempt from state and federal overtime protections. The workers, including case managers, family resource specialists and ongoing care specialists, performed non-exempt work and therefore should have received time-and-a-half wages for the hours they worked in excess of 40 each week, the suit, filed June 3 in Pennsylvania district court, alleges.

Case management workers’ duties included collecting data on individual and family circumstances and needs, inputting the data and notes into the defendant’s computer system, using established guidelines to “maximize utilization of resources through the application of predetermined criteria and best practices approaches,” arranging and transporting individuals to appointments and referrals, and educating individuals about community resources, the lawsuit relays.

Per the suit, case management employees performed, in accordance with JusticeWorks’ policies, procedures and guidelines, “routine and rote” duties that did not require the exercise of independent discretion and judgment with respect to significant matters. Moreover, the workers did not engage in bedside nursing or provide medical advice to patients or other individuals with health problems, the case adds. Thus, case management workers should have been classified and paid as non-exempt employees in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone employed by the defendant as a case management employee within the last three years who was paid a salary and classified as exempt from overtime. The suit also proposes to cover a separate class of those who fit the same criteria and worked in Pennsylvania.

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