New York Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace have announced settlements with two Brooklyn-based home care services agencies, NAE Edison d/b/a Edison Home Health Care of New York, LLC and Assistcare Home Health Services, LLC d/b/a Preferred Home Healthcare of New York, LLC. The agreements address allegations that these agencies defrauded Medicaid and underpaid more than 25,000 employees.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) secured a settlement requiring Edison and Preferred to pay $7.5 million in unpaid wages to current and former employees. Additionally, they will pay $9.75 million to the Medicaid program. These settlements mark the largest reached by OAG for violations of the Wage Parity Act.
"Home health aides provide crucial care to our most vulnerable neighbors and loved ones, and they deserve to be paid for their hard work," said Attorney General James. "Edison and Preferred cheated employees out of years of pay and cheated New York taxpayers by defrauding Medicaid for their own benefit."
"Home health aides work long hours at difficult, often thankless tasks to ensure that the vulnerable individuals who they provide services to are properly cared for," said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. "These aides deserve the hard-earned benefits guaranteed them under the law and my office will ensure that they are accurately compensated."
The Wage Parity Act sets wage and benefit minimums that licensed home care services agencies (LHCSAs) must pay to staff who perform home health aide services for Medicaid recipients. Investigations revealed that Edison and Preferred used funds meant for worker benefits on medical “stop loss” insurance instead.
Under the settlement terms, Edison and Preferred will repay $7.5 million in unpaid wages and benefits, revise company policies, train personnel on updated policies subject to OAG’s approval, and report staff wages regularly to OAG for three years. They will also repay $9.75 million to the Medicaid Program.
The investigations began after whistleblowers filed complaints under the qui tam provisions of both state and federal False Claims Acts in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Attorney General James thanked U.S. Attorney Peace and EDNY for their collaboration on this matter.
This case was handled by various officials from MFCU including Special Assistant Attorney General Jill D. Brenner under supervision from Alee N. Scott; Senior Auditor-Investigator Khristian Diaz supervised by Stacey Millis; Director Amy Held; Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mahoney; as well as several officials from the Labor Bureau including Assistant Attorneys General Kristen Julie Ferguson, Anielka Sanchez Godinez, Abigail Ramos; Civil Enforcement Section Chief Fiona J. Kaye; Labor Bureau Deputy Chief Young Lee; Labor Bureau Chief Karen Cacace; Data Scientist Casey Marescot; Deputy Director Gautam Sisodia; Director Victoria Khan from Research and Analytics Department.
Both divisions involved in this matter are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.