March 10, 2016

Orange County recycler to pay workers $200K in back wages, penalties

Employers: Garcia Recycling Center & Metals, Inc.

Sites: 631 S. Main St., Santa Ana, California
2429 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana, California
13862 Seaboard Circle, Garden Grove, California

March 7, 2016

Popular Cajun food enterprise will pay more than $138K in back wages, penalties following U.S. Labor Department investigation

SCOTT, La. – While Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins food preparers were mixing rice, meat and seasoning to make the company’s popular Cajun sausage, their employer was cooking the books. Instead of paying workers the wages they legally earned, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the owners were using those unpaid wages to lower their costs and increase profits.

March 2, 2016

US Labor Department initiative finds Ames restaurants owe nearly $100K in back wages to more than 150 workers

AMES, Iowa – In “college towns” like the city of Ames, hospitality industry jobs are often filled by students, temporary, or foreign workers – many of whom are new to the workforce. Among the nation’s lowest paid workers, they are often unfamiliar with wage laws and their rights.  Language barriers, fear of retaliation, and fears about immigration status can also cause them to be among those least likely to exercise their rights, leaving them vulnerable to labor violations.

March 2, 2016

Federally funded affordable housing project in Los Angeles for veterans, homeless plagued with wage violations

LOS ANGELES – In downtown Los Angeles, as dozens of workers constructed a new affordable housing complex for veterans and chronically homeless individuals in MacArthur Park, their employers were cheating them out of lawfully earned wages in 2015.

March 2, 2016

Department sues Honolulu builder to recover more than $500K for workers after willful violation of federal minimum wage and overtime pay laws

Employer: Kazu Construction LLC

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit    

Names of Defendants: Kazu Construction LLC Vernon Lowry, owner

March 2, 2016

Department of Labor moves to revoke Central Valley labor contractor’s certification in wake of farm workers’ deaths

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has taken action to take away a Central Valley labor contractor’s permit to provide agricultural workers to local growers following a series of safety violations that culminated in 2015 with a vehicle accident that killed four farmworkers.

March 1, 2016

Orange County residential care facilities owner violated overtime, wage laws; to pay 138 workers $227K in back wages, damages

Employers: Elizabeth Homes Adult Residential Care, owned by Elizabeth G. Santos, Inc.

Sites: 7161 Stanton Ave., Buena Park, California (main office)
18 other facilities throughout Orange County

February 29, 2016

Department of Labor sues Oregon drywall company to recover $800K in overtime wages, damages for 100 workers

PORTLAND – For the second time since 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor is suing the same major Pacific Northwest drywall company for failing to pay its workers $800,000 or more in overtime.

February 26, 2016

Farm labor contractor, vineyard pay $42K in penalties for providing deplorable housing conditions to farm workers in Sonoma County

Employers: Four Seasons Vineyard Management Inc., Ridge Vineyards Inc.

Site: Healdsburg, northern Sonoma County, California

February 25, 2016

U.S. Labor Department sues to recover unpaid minimum wage, overtime plus additional damages for Akron restaurant workers

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing

Names of Defendants: Emidio & Sons Inc. and Emidio Piermarini Jr.

Complaint: The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal court to recover back wages and an equal, additional amount in liquidated damages for employees at Emidio’s, an Akron restaurant. The suit also seeks an injunction against the company to prevent future FLSA violations. 

February 24, 2016

Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division continues fight against worker abuse in LA garment industry

LOS ANGELES – The country’s top administrator for remedying and preventing wage violations announced a consent judgment today that requires one of the primary clothing suppliers for Ross Stores, one of the largest off-price retailers in the United States, to pay $212,000 in back wages to employees of its garment subcontractors for minimum wage and overtime violations.

February 24, 2016

US Labor Department conducting wage survey of Alabama’s building and heavy construction industries

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a building and heavy construction survey statewide in Alabama. The agency is currently collecting data on wages paid to workers on all active building and heavy construction projects throughout the state from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2014. This survey is not limited to federally funded construction projects.

February 24, 2016

US Labor Department extends wage survey of building, heavy construction industries in New Hampshire

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a Building and Heavy construction survey statewide in New Hampshire. The information collected will help establish prevailing wage rates, as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

February 22, 2016

Silicon Valley venture capital firm to pay $331K in back wages to employees wrongfully treated as unpaid interns

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Fenox Venture Capital of San Jose, California

What: Fenox wrongfully classified 56 workers, who were performing high-level jobs, as unpaid interns, the Wage and Hour Division announced today. The Silicon Valley venture capital firm will pay $331,269 in back wages and damages to the workers.

February 22, 2016

Oklahoma industrial cleaning company agrees to pay more than $235K to 42 workers in back wages, damages

Employer: Power Services Company of Oklahoma LLC

Site: 9881 Hectorville Road, Mounds, Oklahoma

February 18, 2016

US Department of Labor lawsuit alleges Atlanta chemical packager failed to pay workers minimum wage and overtime compensation

Employer name: Apollo Industries Inc.

Investigation site: 1850 South Cobb Industrial Blvd., Smyrna, Georgia 30082

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Atlanta District office found the employer violated overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Apollo Industries is a specialty chemical contract packager.

February 16, 2016

Paying to work? Sophia’s House of Pancakes resolves allegations servers made to pay $2 per hour to work at restaurants

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Imagine having to pay your restaurant employer to be able to work there.

That’s what U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found at two popular Sophia’s House of Pancakes restaurants in Kalamazoo and Benton Harbor where servers were required to pay $2 an hour from their tips to their employer. Investigators also found that Peter Philis, who runs the Benton Harbor location, discriminated against a server, claiming that she reported violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act to the Labor Department.

February 16, 2016

The Mirage hotel and casino violated Family and Medical Leave Act

Employer: MGM Resorts International, doing business as “The Mirage”

Site: 3400 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada

February 16, 2016

Minnesota sheet metal fabricator pays 43 workers more than $171K in back wages and damages

ST. MICHAEL, Minn. – A central Minnesota sheet metal fabricator has paid $85,617 in back wages and an additional equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $171,234 to 43 workers. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined the company violated the overtime provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act by “banking” overtime hours instead of paying for that time at legally-required time and a half.

February 11, 2016

Wisconsin cleaning company to pay more than $104K in back wages to 56 workers after Labor Department investigation

HORTONVILLE, Wis. – A Wisconsin industrial cleaning contractor failed to pay workers for all their time spent loading trucks and driving to job sites, resulting in violations of the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, Mid Valley Industrial Services Inc.