Date of action:                       April 3, 2023

Type of action:                      Complaint

Names of defendants:           EM Policia Privada Inc.; its successor Vigilancia Virtual y Policia Privada LLC; Israel Martínez Gutiérrez, individually Carmen Hernandez Rosa, individually; and Daniel Vargas, individually.

FORT LEE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $300,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 63 workers at a Fort Lee restaurant after an investigation found the employer’s pay practices violated federal minimum wage and overtime regulations.

HONOLULU – U.S. Department of Labor investigators have found that a Lihue cleaning service failed to pay employees overtime wages when required and did not pay employees for time spent traveling between job sites, which has led to the recovery of $96,936 in unpaid wages and damages for 10 workers.

SAN JOSE, CA – A federal investigation has recovered $211,064 in back wages and liquidated damages for 16 people employed by the owners and operators of three Bay Area assisted living facilities that deliberately failed to pay the required overtime rate when employees worked over 40 hours a week serving the needs of older adults in Santa Clara and San Jose.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court jury has awarded back wages of more than $22 million to the U.S. Department of Labor for more than 7,500 employees working for East Penn Manufacturing Company Inc. — one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers — after the department proved that the company failed to pay them overtime pay.

Who:              U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division           

What:             Fair Labor Standards Act webinar for hotel industry employers, workers

When:            May 11, 2023, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT  

Employer:   APDC Cleaning Services Inc.

                     5824 Precision Drive, Orlando, FL 32819

LYNDHURST, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in a federal court in New Jersey to recover $910,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 289 employees of a Lyndhurst staffing agency whose pay practices deprived them of hard-earned overtime wages.

Employer:                       The Heart and Medical Center                                     

Investigation sites:    2701 W. University Blvd.

                                              Durant, OK 74701                                  

HARRISBURG, PA – A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s request to enjoin and restrain the owner of a Popeyes franchise restaurant in Harrisburg and its district manager from threatening workers, harassing federal investigators, and otherwise obstructing an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

LOUISVILLE, KY – Working in a kitchen late at night near dangerous cooking equipment is a reality for many adults in the food service industry. But finding 10-year-old kids in such a work environment is a cause for concern and action by the U.S. Department of Labor.

GARY, IN – Like all first responders, firefighters employed by the City of Gary must be ready to respond when and wherever needed. In general, they work a 106-hour schedule at fire stations every two weeks in shifts sometimes lasting 24 hours or longer. When duty forces them to exceed their typical schedules, federal law requires their employer to pay overtime wages at time-and-one-half their hourly rates.

WESTBURY, NY - El Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. ha recuperado más de $333,000 en salarios atrasados y daños y perjuicios para 51 personas empleadas en una empresa de mantenimiento de Long Island que emitía cheques por separado para sus empleados para ocultar que la empresa no pagaba los salarios por horas extras cuando lo requería la ley.

HONOLULU – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $101,694 in back wages and liquidated damages from the owners of a Honolulu restaurant who denied full wages to 10 chefs — many of whom worked as many as 20 hours of overtime each week — by illegally excluding them from overtime compensation.

WESTBURY, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $333,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 51 employees of a Long Island maintenance company that issued separate checks to workers to mask the company’s failure to pay overtime wages when required by law.

SANTA MARIA, CA – A federal investigation has found the owner and operator of five central California residential care homes denied overtime wages to 42 caregivers by requiring them to sign away their rights to overtime in exchange for an extra $1 per hour worked and creating a second payroll to hide the fraud.

Employer:     

Dyersburg Grecian Steakhouse Inc., operating as Grecian Steakhouse

2265 St. John Ave.

Dyersburg, TN 38024

PHILADELPHIA −The U.S. Department of Labor will host a webinar for home care workers, industry employers and other stakeholders about workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

WEST COVINA, CA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $78,472 in back wages and liquidated damages for 54 guards employed by a West Covina security company that denied them overtime pay illegally and then attempted to conceal the overtime hours by recording them falsely as training, bonuses, commissions and reimbursements.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring the operators of five pizza franchise locations in Illinois and Indiana to pay $250,000 in back wages and damages in its effort to recover unpaid overtime wages for 35 restaurant and delivery employees.