Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
Press Releases
U.S. Department of Labor |
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Houston-based landscaping company agrees to pay nearly $90,000 in overtime back wages following US Department of Labor investigation
HOUSTON -- Moss Landscaping Inc., also doing business as Signature Lighting Concepts in Houston, has agreed to pay $89,819 in overtime back wages to 238 current and former landscapers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division in Houston found that Moss Landscaping failed to pay employees for pre-shift and post-shift work and did not pay workers for time spent in loading and unloading materials and tools needed for the day. Additionally, the company misclassified technicians and office staff as salaried exempt when in fact they were due overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The company also failed to maintain required recordkeeping.
“Employers must ensure they compensate their workers according to the law,” said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “As a result of the department’s actions, these workers will now get the pay they have earned.”
The FLSA requires that covered employees must be paid for all hours worked in a workweek. In general, “hours worked” includes all time an 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 activity of the workday to the end of the last principal work activity of the workday.
Moss Landscaping, which provides landscaping maintenance in the Houston metropolitan area, has agreed to future FLSA compliance.
For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or the Wage and Hour Division’s Houston District Office at 713-339-5500. Information is also available on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
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