Federal officials said they’ve conducted over 1,600 investigations since announcing the crackdown last fall focusing on residential care, nursing facilities, home health services and other employers in the caregiving industry. They found violations in 80% of cases.

Most of the issues centered on situations where employers failed to pay overtime or the federal minimum wage as well as instances where employees were misclassified as independent contractors, the Labor Department said.

To date, officials indicated that they’ve recovered $28.6 million in back wages and damages for almost 25,000 workers. In addition, they’ve assessed employers nearly $1.3 million in penalties.

The violations inordinately affected women of color who make up much of the nation’s caregiving workforce, the Labor Department said.

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