Home Health Company Pays $975,000 to Settle Overtime Lawsuit

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A Columbus, Ohio-area home health services company, ViaQuest Residential Services, recently agreed to pay $975,000 to resolve a collective action alleging it misclassified its program managers as exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Ohio's wage laws. The case serves as a cautionary tale for healthcare employers about the risks of classifying frontline supervisors as exempt.

Why it matters

This case highlights the compliance risks healthcare companies face when they rely on program managers and similar frontline supervisors who carry supervisory titles but spend much of their time delivering hands-on patient care. The FLSA's white-collar exemptions turn on actual duties, not job titles, and the more time a manager spends providing direct care, the harder it may be for an employer to argue that management is the 'primary duty'.

The details

The case, Simmons v. ViaQuest Residential Services LLC, centered on whether program managers' 'primary duty' was management or direct patient care. ViaQuest argued the program managers were properly classified as exempt under the FLSA's 'executive exemption' and 'administrative exemption', but the court conditionally certified a collective action and 106 plaintiffs opted in. After substantial discovery, the parties reached a $975,000 settlement, with plaintiffs receiving approximately 76.4% of their calculated alleged unpaid overtime.

• In January 2023, Kenneth Simmons filed the lawsuit.
• In April 2023, the court conditionally certified the collective action.
• In January 2026, the parties reached a $975,000 settlement.

What’s next

Healthcare employers may want to consider auditing the actual duties of their program managers and similar frontline supervisors to ensure exempt classifications withstand scrutiny.