[co-author: Stephanie Kozol]

The New York Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently announced two agreements with White Glove Community Care, Inc. (White Glove). One agreement reached with OAG’s Labor Bureau involved unpaid wages to White Glove’s workers. The second agreement entered with OAG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit concerned false claims the company allegedly submitted to Medicaid.

The New York Wage Parity Act fixes a set wage and benefits minimum that licensed home care services agencies must pay employees who perform home health aid and personal care services to Medicaid recipients. White Glove failed to pay owed wages and benefits to its home health aides and personal care aides, but it still sought and received Medicaid payment for care performed by these employees. Furthermore, White Glove falsely certified compliance with the Wage Parity Act.

Under the settlement, White Glove will pay $2 million to OAG for distribution to current and former employees, as well as $1.2 million to the New York State Medicaid Program. This settlement is the third in a continuing investigation by OAG of various licensed home care agencies. Earlier this year, OAG settled with All American Homecare Agency, Inc. (All American) and Crown of Life Care NY LLC (Crown) for similar New York Wage Parity Act and Medicaid violations. All American repaid $4 million to Medicaid for submitting false claims. Crown paid $1.5 million to its employees and $1.4 million to the Medicaid program.

Why This Matters

These cases illustrate that the OAG remains focused on both false claims issues and Medicaid fraud. This is part of the state AGs’ overall focus to ensure Americans’ tax dollars are not fraudulently used. Whether concerning tax fraud, securities fraud, misrepresentations in the cybersecurity context, or other types of misconduct, we expect a new wave of state false claims cases to surface over the next few years. We will continue to monitor all future OAG or other state AGs investigations on these issues.