Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
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Gaylord Entertainment Co. agrees to pay more than $58,400 in back wages to security officers following US Labor Department investigation
48 hourly workers at Kissimmee, Fla., resort not fully compensated for overtime
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $58,496.63 in back wages from Gaylord Entertainment Co. for failing to pay overtime compensation to 48 security officers employed at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Gaylord Entertainment Co. is a multi-establishment entertainment and hospitality company based in Nashville, Tenn. Besides the resort in Kissimmee, the company owns the Gaylord Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
“These officers worked many long hours protecting the health and safety of thousands of visitors, but were denied the overtime pay protections provided by the FLSA,” said Michael Young, director of the Jacksonville District Office of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. “This action underscores the Labor Department’s commitment to ensure workers receive the wages they work hard for and deserve.”
An investigation conducted by the Wage and Hour Division determined that the company had failed to pay overtime compensation to its employees for all hours worked in excess of 40 during a seven-day workweek. After conducting employee interviews and reviewing time and payroll records, investigators found that the security officers were paid “straight time” wages, rather than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for overtime hours.
The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as well as one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week.
In general, “hours worked” includes all time a covered employee must be on duty, or on the employer’s premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal work activity of the day to the end of the last principal work activity. Additionally, the law requires that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.
For more information on this investigation, contact the Wage and Hour Division’s Jacksonville office at 904-359-9292 or call the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
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