New Horizons Community Service Board Under the Microscope Department of Labor Investigating Fair Labor Standards Act Complaint
Current and former employees at New Horizons Community Service Board in Columbus have been meeting to discuss "things that just didn’t seem right" at New Horizons.
"We didn’t think our pay/overtime was being calculated correctly. We're also concerned with other problems that adversely affect consumers," said one attendee. "We decided that a visit to the Federal Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division was in order. Along with our union representative, we asked the DOL to conduct an investigation into overtime pay."
The DOL is investigating the situation.
If overtime laws have been violated, some employees at New Horizons will be owed back pay. The investigation may take some time to complete. Recovery of back wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act is subject to a statute of limitations. Generally, this means that any part of a back wage claim which was earned more than two years before court action is filed may not be collectible.
There are other situations at New Horizons that are not beneficial to consumers and the union is looking into some other actions that may be able to be taken.
"We care about the consumers of New Horizon’s services and we care about ourselves and our co-workers," said another attendee. "We're concerned that house parents, job coaches and others are being laid off and replaced with agency workers who might not care about the residents like we have cared because it’s not their permanent job."
If you think there are things happening at New Horizons or at other agencies that “don’t seem right’ or if you're interested in joining the Union, call the Union office at (404) 575-2223 or (888) SEIU-YES.