Thousands of home health aides across New York will receive long-overdue pay after a major settlement announced by Attorney General Letitia James.
James said Americare, a New York City–based home care agency, agreed to return nearly $45 million in unpaid wages to workers and pay an additional $10 million to the Medicaid program, marking the largest wage parity settlement her office has ever secured.
State investigators found that Americare underpaid more than 10,000 home health aides between 2014 and 2020, despite billing Medicaid as if it had fully complied with New York’s Wage Parity Act. That law requires home care agencies to meet minimum wage and benefit standards for aides serving Medicaid recipients.
According to the attorney general’s office, Americare tracked what it owed workers under the law but failed to actually deliver the full compensation. As a result, aides were denied nearly $45 million in legally required wages and benefits.
“Home health aides work tirelessly to care for our most vulnerable neighbors every single day,” James said. She said the settlement ensures workers and taxpayers are repaid and sends a message that companies cannot profit by violating labor laws.
Under the agreement, Americare will pay $44,999,648 over 32 months to current and former employees. An independent settlement administrator will contact eligible workers with instructions on how to claim their payments. The company will also fund the administration process.
Americare will separately pay $10 million to resolve state and federal False Claims Act violations tied to Medicaid reimbursement. Of that amount, $6 million will go to New York state and $4 million to the federal government.
The settlement also requires Americare to overhaul its internal policies, train staff on wage parity rules, and submit compliance reports to the attorney general’s office for several years. Failure to comply could trigger additional penalties or enforcement actions.
A spokesperson for Americare issued FingerLakes1.com said the following:
“We deeply regret that we were unable to fully satisfy our wage parity obligations for a period of time due to significant financial challenges that could have compromised our ability to continue serving the patients who rely on us for care. Our ability to achieve our mission of providing patients with high-quality healthcare in the comfort of their own homes depends entirely on the dedication and hard work of our home health aides. Under these settlements, every affected employee will receive all wages to which they are entitled, and the Government has recognized our voluntary self-disclosure –which we made prior to any government inquiry – and full cooperation with its investigation. We take our legal obligations and responsibility to our employees very seriously and accrued the liability on our books. We have been in full compliance with the wage parity law for over five years and are pleased to put this matter behind us.”
The case originated from a whistleblower complaint filed in federal court in 2017. Investigations into other home care agencies named in that complaint are still ongoing, according to the attorney general’s office.
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