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West Virginia Employer Paying $119,040 To Employees With Disabilities To Resolve Violations

A federal jury has entered a verdict against Randolph County Sheltered Workshop Inc. – doing business as Seneca Designs – and ordered the nonprofit organization to pay $119,040 in back wages to 34 employees. Entered in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia-Elkins Division, the jury found that the organization violated the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Employees at Randolph County Sheltered Workshop assemble fishing lures and lure packages for Leland’s Lures in Searcy, Arkansas.

The FLSA requires that covered, non-exempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates for hours worked beyond 40 per week.

Section 14(c) of the FLSA authorizes employers, after receiving a certificate from the Wage and Hour Division, to pay subminimum wages – wages less than the federal minimum wage – to employees with disabilities when the disability impairs their productivity for the work being performed.

Investigators found violations that resulted from the employer’s failure to obtain a certificate authorizing their payment of sub-minimum wages to employees with disabilities. Absent that certificate, employees were legally due the full federal minimum wage. Investigators also found that the employer failed to post information about rights for employees with disabilities paid at a sub-minimum wage, as the law requires.

The back wages received by these workers will undoubtedly have a positive impact on their lives. The ruling will also positively impact compliance and will help to level the playing field for employers that follow the law and pay their employees properly.

For more information about the FLSA and other wage and hour laws, or if you think you may be owed back wages, please contact an experienced FLSA attorney today.

Concrete Company To Pay Employees $412,000 In Back Wages & Damages

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has ordered Casa Concrete Inc., a provider of concrete services, and its officers, Alice Fernandes and Manuel Fernandes, to pay $412,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 20 employees for violating the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The consent judgment also prohibits the defendants from retaliating against, or soliciting repayment of recovered wages from the employees.

Investigators found that Casa Concrete—based in Selden, New York—typically paid employees by check for their first 40 hours of work, but paid them in cash at a straight time—or lower—rates for any hours they worked beyond 40 per workweek. The company also failed to pay employees for time spent working in its Long Island yard and traveling to and from the yard to job sites. In addition, Casa Concrete failed to keep required records of employees’ work hours, rates of pay, and total wages paid.

Under the FLSA, employees are entitled to receive all of the wages they have legally earned for all the hours that they have worked. Employees with questions about the FLSA are encouraged to reach out to experienced FLSA attorneys for help.

Experienced FLSA attorneys will use all tools at their disposal—including litigation when necessary—to ensure that workers are not exploited and employers don’t gain an unfair advantage over their competitors by breaking the law.

 

Image link: https://www.pexels.com/photo/building-construction-building-site-constructing-2469/

Arizona Construction Company Paying $214,392 To 145 Employees

The U.S. District Court of Arizona entered a consent judgment requiring Scottsdale construction contractor MNI Enterprises Inc. to pay $214,392 in back wages to 145 employees for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The court also ordered the employer to pay an additional $25,608 in penalties due to the willful and repeated nature of the violations.

 

Investigators determined MNI Enterprises Inc. – doing business as U.S. Carpentry Tucson LLC – paid employees on a piece-rate basis without regard to the number of hours worked. Overtime violations resulted when the company failed to pay the required overtime premium of time-and-one-half for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Investigators found similar overtime violations as a result of two earlier investigations of the company in 2004 and 2013.

 

Paying employees on a piece-rate basis does not automatically exempt them from overtime. This consent judgment helps stop non-compliant employers from taking advantage of their employees and from gaining an unfair competitive advantage over competitors that strive to abide by the law.

 

We urge all employees with questions about the FLSA or any of the federal wage laws to contact an experienced FLSA attorney. All calls are confidential.

 

Image link: https://www.pexels.com/photo/2-man-on-construction-site-during-daytime-159306/

El Rodeo Mexican Restaurants To Pay $833,992 In Back Wages To 64 Employees

A majority owner of two Iowa restaurants has paid $833,992 in back wages to 64 employees to resolve federal wage violations, including falsifying payroll and time records and failing to pay required minimum wages and overtime. Investigators determined that Gloria Ochoa, majority owner of Rojas LLC and Ocha Inc., which do business as El Rodeo Mexican Restaurants, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Ochoa has also paid a civil money penalty for violating child labor regulations.

 

Investigators determined that Ochoa violated minimum wage requirements when she required servers to cash their paychecks and return the amounts of the checks, in cash, to the employer. Ochoa also required servers to surrender $20 from their daily tips to the employer. Additionally, the restaurants kept no time records reflecting when employees worked, instead paying workers for 80 hours biweekly regardless of their actual hours. This practice resulted in overtime violations when employees worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek, yet received no overtime pay. Employees routinely worked 55 hours per week. Investigators also determined that Ochoa employed a minor employee outside of the work hours allowed by the FLSA’s child labor requirements.

 

Employees depend on receiving all the wages they have rightfully earned. The resolution of this case demonstrates investigators’ commitment to those workers and to leveling the playing field for employers who play by the rules.

 

Image link: https://www.pexels.com/photo/alcohol-bar-blur-celebration-313715/

New Payroll Audit Independent Determination Pilot

The U.S. Department of Labor launched a wage and hour self-audit program for employers on April 3, 2018.  The pilot program, called Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID), is designed to allow employers to identify non-compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in their pay policies.

Generally, under the FLSA, an employer can be held liable for liquidated (double) damages for any willful violations of the Act.  However, the PAID program will allow an employer to avoid paying the liquidated (double) damages that are imposed on employers for willful violations.  However, employers remain skeptical of the program, and for good reason.

The PAID program is designed to identify violations of the federal FLSA, not state wage and hour laws. As the FLSA’s minimum wage becomes increasingly outdated, many states are increasing their state minimum wages.  Additionally, some states have passed legislation to improve working conditions by requiring the employer to provide meal and rest breaks.  One concern for employers is that they would identify a violation of the FLSA, notify and pay the employee, only for the employee to then become suspicious of other wage violations that may be present under state labor laws.  In other words, the employer may alert the employee to wage and hour violations that employee would have otherwise been unaware of.

The program has been received by both employers and employees with trepidation.