A prospective collective and class action lawsuit has been filed against the country's oldest nonmedical home care franchiser, alleging its Connecticut branch failed to pay overtime and unlawfully deducted wages from approximately 400 home health aides.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, alleges Griswold Home Care, which is headquartered in Pennsylvania but has franchises throughout the country, including Connecticut, violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Connecticut General Statutes. It names as defendants Cathy Howard and her daughter, Maria Malafronte, who own several Griswold franchises in Connecticut.

Howard and Malafronte did not respond to messages left Friday at their Stratford office. And Griwsold, which is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, had not assigned an attorney to represent it in the Connecticut suit as of Friday. The company also doesn't have a legal department. Its compliance manager, Cathy Reilly, said any comment would have to come from Matthew Murphy, Griswold's president and chief executive officer, who did not respond to a request for comment by press time.