The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with the owner of 10 Orange County residential care facilities to pay 72 employees a total of $173,539 for unpaid overtime.

Investigators with the Department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the owners of Verona Court – operator of residential elder care facilities in Mission Hills and Laguna Niguel – failed to pay employees for time spent working through lunch breaks and attending mandatory training. The employer also paid straight time for overtime hours instead of the federally required time-and-one-half for hours employees worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Additionally, investigators found recordkeeping violations involving inaccurate and incomplete timesheets and payroll records and a lack of records of cash payments.