An investigation of the company that operates Home Instead Senior Care in Bowling Green found violations of overtime and record-keeping regulations at seven Home Instead locations in three states.

The investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division led to the recovery of $201,356 in back wages for 320 workers.

A Department of Labor news release said the investigation focused initially on Trusted Senior Care LLC, the Bowling Green-based operator of Home Instead.

That investigation uncovered violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act at Trusted Senior Care, an independently owned and operated Home Instead franchise specializing in providing in-home care for seniors.

Services include assistance with household duties, transportation for errands and other types of non-medical preventive and post-surgical care.

Investigators became aware of the systemic nature of the violations and expanded the investigation to six other Home Instead franchise locations in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, according to the Department of Labor.

That led to the discovery of FLSA violations at each location, including employees not receiving overtime pay due to a failure to combine all hours worked by employees when they worked in multiple positions within the same workweek.

Other violations documented included a failure to retain records of all hours worked by employees, failure to count and pay for hours worked while on-call, failure to count and pay for all travel time and work performed before and after scheduled shifts and underpayment of overtime hours due to failure to include certain bonuses into the rate of pay when calculating overtime pay.

The Department of Labor also found that the employer failed to compensate some nonexempt employees for all of their hours worked at the Bowling Green location.

“When employers deny workers the wages they earn, they make it harder for those workers to provide for themselves and their families,” Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director Richard Blaylock said in a news release. “By underpaying, they also gain an unfair advantage over other employers who abide by the law.”

The Home Instead franchises are owned by Brad Cannon.

Reached by phone, Cannon said the company complied with the investigation and the affected employees have received their back pay, before declining further comment.

Cannon later emailed a statement.

“We value our caregivers and the services they provide to our clients,” the statement said. “Our employees have been fully compensated for their time, and we conducted a complete review and update of our policies. We pride ourselves on providing a positive work experience, professional development and career advancement opportunities.”