Pinnacle Home Healthcare Services Inc. and its owner, Pauline Mwangi, have agreed to pay $162,000 in a wage violation case including 233 employees.
The agreement, announced by Attorney General Maura Healey’s Office Monday, settles allegations the company violated state and hour labor laws. Pinnacle Home Healthcare Services was cited for failing to make timely payment of wages to home healthcare aides. The workers provided assistance with bathing, dressing and housekeeping to elderly, ill and disabled patients in Central and Western Massachusetts.
Healey’s office began investigating Pinnacle after receiving a complaint from an employee alleging it was issuing her checks missing pay for specific hours worked. An audit of the company’s payroll records from September 2016 to November 2017 showed a pattern of late and underpaid wages, the office said.
Employers must pay employees all wages earned within six days of the end of a pay period, Healey’s office said.
Mwangi said Monday that Pinnacle’s payroll practices have been improved on since the review.
“I never refused to pay anybody,” Mwangi said in a phone interview with WBJ.
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