Santa Clara County Sues Home Care Business Over Wage Theft, Exploiting Immigrant Workers

Santa Clara County officials announced Wednesday a sweeping civil enforcement action against a Milpitas-based home care business, alleging its owners perpetrated a complex scheme to exploit immigrant caregivers.

The county said the owners paid “extreme sub-minimum wages,” forced “egregious work conditions” and committed identity theft.

County Counsel Tony LoPresti filed the lawsuit against Safejourney Transport LLC, which conducts business under the title Happy Trip Home Care. The complaint said its owners, who used multiple aliases to operate, recruited primarily Filipino immigrants through word-of-mouth networks. The owners then allegedly compensated them in cash or by electronic transfer for grueling 24-hour shifts, sometimes paying as little as $4.17 an hour.

At a Nov. 12 press conference in San José, LoPresti said the lawsuit sends a “clear and simple” message to employers.

“We will hold accountable employers who seek to profit by violating the law and exploiting vulnerable immigrant workers,” LoPresti said. “We will be sure that they face their day in court.”

The county alleged Armando Ogerio De Castro Jr., Michelle Sison Delos Reyes and Edmund Vasquez Olaso charged clients $300 to $500 a day for 24-hour care, but only paid the caregivers $100 to $250. The defendants “routinely pocketed more than half of the money” that clients paid for the caregivers’ work, the complaint states.

By paying in cash and not issuing itemized wage statements, the complaint said, the business ensured caregivers did not have the documents that would “reflect their true hours, employer, and hourly rate.”

Caregivers were expected to be on call for their entire 24-hour shift, often woken “every few hours at night” to assist clients. The county alleged workers were denied all meal and rest breaks, and in some cases, were directed to perform uncompensated domestic labor like cooking and cleaning for the owners themselves, or clients’ spouses.

“The job these immigrant workers perform is grueling,” said LoPresti, who added that the lawsuit is a result of a yearlong investigation. “And yet, in spite of shouldering that very heavy responsibility, defendants pay them next to nothing.”

The allegations extend beyond wage theft, detailing at least one instance where defendants took possession of a caregiver’s passport and bank account information. They then allegedly “performed numerous unauthorized transactions” using the caregiver’s account to transfer money to themselves, pay their own landlord and attorney and make personal purchases.

The business is not licensed under the Home Care Consumer Protection Act, according to the county. The complaint also states that two of the owners, Delos Reyes and Olaso, have previously been subject to two separate elder abuse restraining orders, filed by the County’s Public Guardian.

Officials emphasized that this business model hinges on exploiting a vulnerable population. Speaking at the conference, former in-home care worker Tess Brillante said caregivers, many of whom are immigrants, are often desperate for work.

“Workers not only need the job for their livelihood, but also to send money back home to support their families,” Brillante said. “And most caregivers will endure anything to just keep their job.”

By 2030, older adults will outnumber children in Santa Clara County, increasing the demand for these services, according to the California Department of Finance.

This lawsuit is the latest move in Santa Clara County’s multi-pronged effort to combat wage theft, an issue that costs workers nationwide an estimated $15 billion annually. In October, the county successfully pushed for SB 261, a new state law that imposes triple penalties on employers who ignore wage theft judgments.

This new lawsuit, LoPresti said, is a direct message of protection for immigrants at a time when these communities are being increasingly targeted.

“When the federal administration is doing everything they can, trying to create a culture of fear in these communities, we want to make sure that those immigrant workers know that they still have rights.”

The business and its owners could not immediately be reached for comment.