Total Health Home Care

On November 20, 2007, Total Health Home Care Corp., with offices in Upper Darby and Havertown, agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by home caregivers and supported by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.

Initially filed on May 18, 2006 by four of Total’s home health care workers, the lawsuit alleged the company owed its workers for time spent traveling between clients and for overtime accrued when the travel resulted in more than 40 hours of time being clocked in a week.

The settlement, filed with the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court for approval, covers approximately 3,000 employees, including the original four litigants, Anna Thomas, Tracey Dennis, Renee Johnson and Marilyn Jackson. The exact amount of the settlement disbursement among the class was not filed with the court.

And some seniors are saying that home caregivers continue to suffer at Total Health Home Care. Recently, the company made provisions to comply with the law by reducing its workers base pay and paying them minimum wage for travel time, meaning that workers take home pay is essentially the same or sometimes even lower than prior to the company’s “compliance” with the law. Total receives anywhere from $15-$21 of taxpayer funds per hour for care that the home care worker provides, and caregiver wage rates are around $8 per hour, with no health benefits.

Seniors and caregivers are now calling for more oversight by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA), the quasi-government agency that refers seniors to Total Health Home Care and other home care agencies. Concerned about the impact on the quality of care, caregivers pointed to a turnover rate of approximately 300% per year at Total.

Community leaders are now calling on PCA to avoid contracting with agencies that violate the law; to provide more transparency around issues of quality, abuse, and neglect; and to make sure that taxpayer money intended to provide care makes it down the front line home caregiver.