HOUSTON — A Richmond woman is suing health care company Alternate Options, Inc. and Bernadette Marie Johnson, citing alleged breach of contract for failure to pay overtime wages.
Janice Smith filed a complaint on Jan. 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against the defendants, alleging that they violated the Fair and Labor Standards Act.
According to the complaint, Smith alleges that she worked from 2009 until August 2015 as a direct care staff with the defendants. Throughout her employment, she regularly worked an average of approximately 15 to 20 overtime hours per week without being paid proper overtime compensation. She holds Harris County-based Alternate Options and Johnson responsible because they allegedly failed to compensate her at a rate not less than 1.5 times her regular rate for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek.
Smith requests a trial by jury and seeks full payment for unpaid overtime wages, reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, expert fees, mediator fees and out-of-pocket expenses and for such other relief as the court may find proper. She is represented by Charles L. Scalise and Daniel B. Ross of Ross Law Group in Bellaire.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Case number 4:17 -cv -61