A husband and wife in Mass. are facing severe financial penalties after a federal court found the couple paid a laborer less than $150 per month for 13 years.

The ruling hinged on violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including payments under the minimum wage. The ex-employee worked more than 80 hours per week with only one day off on average but sometimes received as little as $35 per month, according to The Boston Globe. The former worker performed a variety of duties, from cooking and child care to manual labor like shoveling snow. The couple will have to pay approximately $150,000 in restitution and also will be put on probation for their violation of time and attendance laws.

The FLSA currently has overtime exemptions for live-in domestic workers and those who spend a significant amount of time in an employer's home, but that exception will expire in 2015. Domestic workers are still required to be paid the minimum wage. Even after figuring in the cost of room and board, the court determined that the employee was owed more than $300,000 in total by the family.

Families looking for domestic help should seek out home care providers that use effective attendance tracking software to accurately record hours worked and properly pay employees.

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