The Administrator shall deny or revoke a certificate in accordance
with the following standards and for the period specified in the
standards:
(a) Serious wage violations. Upon a finding by the Administrator of
a serious wage violation, a certificate shall be denied (including
refusal to renew) or revoked for one year. A serious wage violation is
defined as minimum wage or overtime pay violations of the Act totalling
$10,000 or more with respect to homeworkers; or minimum wage violations
where 10 percent or more of a certificate holder's homeworkers (but in
all cases at least two homeworkers) failed to receive at least 80
percent of the minimum wage for all hours worked for 6 or more weeks in
any 3 month period; or minimum wage or overtime pay violations affecting
more than half of the homeworkers of the certificate holder for 6 or
more weeks in any 3 month period. All other wage violations are deemed
non-serious wage violations for purposes of this section.
(b) Repeated wage violations. For repeated wage violations found by
the Administrator, a certificate shall be denied or revoked for one to
three years, depending on the seriousness and frequency of the
violations.
(c) Child labor violations. Upon a finding by the Administrator of a
violation of the child labor provisions of section 12 of the Fair Labor
Standards Act and the regulations at part 570 of this title, a
certificate shall be denied or revoked for one year. Upon a second
finding by the Administrator of such a violation, the certificate shall
be denied or revoked for three years.
(d) Failure to pay back wages or civil money penalties judged owing.
Upon the failure of a certificate holder to pay within 60 days back
wages or civil money penalties finally judged by a court, administrative
law judge or other appropriate authority, as the case may be, to be owed
by the certificate holder, or agreed to be paid by the certificate
holder, or within such longer period as may be specified in the final
order or agreement, a certificate shall be denied or revoked for up to
one year or for such period as such obligation shall remain unpaid if
longer than one year.
(e) Failure to cooperate in an investigation. Where the
Administrator finds obstruction of or other failure to cooperate in a
Wage and Hour investigation by a certificate holder which impedes the
investigation, the certificate shall be denied or revoked for a period
of one to three years, depending on the circumstances. For purposes of
this regulation, cooperation includes providing records upon request to
Wage and Hour compliance officers, identifying homeworkers of the
certificate holder, and encouraging homeworkers to make themselves
available in connection with an investigation.
(f) Serious recordkeeping violations. Upon a finding by the
Administrator that a certificate holder has engaged in a serious
recordkeeping violation, the certificate may be revoked for up to one
year. Upon a second finding by the Administrator of a serious
recordkeeping violation, a certificate shall be denied or revoked for
one to three years. A serious recordkeeping violation is defined as one
where, either through errors in or omissions of required information,
the name and current address of homeworkers and the data which is
necessary for the accurate determination of hours worked by or wages
paid to homeworkers or data necessary for the computation of wages owed
to homeworkers is unavailable with respect to 10 percent or more of the
homeworkers.
(g) Deliberate misstatement in an application for a certificate or
in other documents. Upon a finding by the Administrator of a deliberate
misstatement of a material fact in an application for a certificate, in
payroll records, or in any other information submitted to the Wage and
Hour Division or maintained by the employer pursuant to these
regulations, the certificate shall be denied or revoked for one to three
years.
(h) Discrimination against a homeworker. Upon a finding by the
Administrator that a certificate holder has discharged or otherwise
discriminated against a homeworker with respect to the homeworker's
compensation or terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because
the homeworker engaged in protected activity, the certificate shall be
denied or revoked for three years. Protected activity is defined as: (1)
Any complaint of a violation of the Act to the employer, the Department
or other appropriate authority, or (2) any action which furthers the
enforcement of or compliance with the Act, such as giving information to
a Wage and Hour compliance officer.
