WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced its Wage and Hour Division will offer contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders an opportunity to attend an online seminar on Aug. 29 on requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

Part of the division’s continuing effort to increase awareness and improve compliance, the day-long seminar will offer sessions on the labor standards protections in the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act – including how the department sets and administers prevailing wages – and other topics. 

“Prevailing wage laws empower workers by ensuring that federally funded construction and service jobs are good jobs with fair wages and benefits,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Biden-Harris administration’s historic investments in our nation’s infrastructure means a significant increase in the number of federal and federally funded projects, and the Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring stakeholders understand the labor standards protections critical to these investments.”

The seminar will be held online on Aug. 29, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT. The seminar is free to attend but registration is required. Additional information and a link to the online seminar will be sent to registered participants. Sign up to receive event updates. 

Learn more about the requirements for federal contractors.

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent judgment requiring a Philadelphia-based home care services provider to pay 66 home health aides $129,697 in back wages and damages after investigations and litigation confirmed the employer willfully denied them overtime pay. 

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered the judgment on July 10, 2024, and directed Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. to pay back wages and liquidated damages to the affected employees, who provide home care as assigned by the company’s Philadelphia and Dover, Delaware, locations. The court also required Blue Ridge to pay $49,434 in civil money penalties to the department for its violations.

Prior to the judgment, the employer paid $100,000 in back wages owed to the same workers. 

The department’s Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia filed suit in December 2023. After several months of litigation, Blue Ridge agreed to a consent judgment requiring them to pay the remaining amount due as well as the civil money penalty. 

“Home care professionals deliver vital, quality-of-life services to some of our communities’ most vulnerable people; they deserve our respect and to be paid fully for their labor,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director James J. Cain in Philadelphia. “Our investigations found Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. denied overtime pay earned by dozens of aides they employed, and we’ve taken action to recover – on average – more than $3,400 in back wages and liquidated damages for each of the 66 affected workers.” 

The court’s action follows investigations by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and litigation by the Office of the Solicitor that confirmed Blue Ridge paid the affected employees straight-time wages for all hours worked, including for hours over 40 in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Company President Tunji Ogunmola admitted he negotiated with employees to accept an extra $1 to $1.50 per hour in addition to their regular rates of pay to avoid paying overtime. 

“The U.S. Department of Labor will not hesitate to litigate against an employer in federal court to recover unpaid wages and liquidated damages they’re owed and to protect their rights and protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia. “The outcome in this case shows employers face costly consequences for violations of federal overtime pay requirements.”

Blue Ridge Home Care Inc. provides companion, homemaker, personal care and live-in home care services to clients in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties of Pennsylvania, and the state of Delaware.

In fiscal year 2023, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $31.7 million in back wages for workers in the healthcare industry nationwide. The Wage and Hour Division offers resources for health care workers and employers on its website. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – available in English and Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Date of action:                       May 24, 2024

Type of action:                      Consent judgment 

Employers:                            Cohen Brothers Realty Corp. 

                                                     CEO Charles Cohen

                                                    Chief Operating Officer Steven Cherniak

Address:                                 750 Lexington Ave., New York, NY                            

Allegations:                            Prompted by an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the department’s Office of the Solicitor filed suit against Cohen Brothers Realty Corp., a Manhattan real estate development and management company, and its CEO Charles Cohen and Chief Operating Officer Steven Cherniak. The department alleged the employers willfully failed to pay overtime wages to six salaried, non-exempt personal drivers for hours over 40 in a workweek and did not keep proper records of the employees’ work hours. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Resolution:                            The division has recovered $82,309 – $41,000 in back wages, an equal amount in liquidated damages and $309 in post-judgment interest – for the affected employees. The employers also paid $8,060 in civil money penalties and post-judgment interest to the department, due to the willful and repeated nature of their violations. In 2019, the division recovered $76,618 for six employees shortchanged by the company.

Court:                                     U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Docket Number:                    1:24-cv-02000-VSB

Quote:                                    “The violations found here were willful and repeated with significant penalties.  However, such violations are preventable if employers know and follow the Fair Labor Standards Act’s pay, recordkeeping and other requirements,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jorge Alvarez in New York.

“The U.S. Department of Labor will not hesitate to pursue legal action to ensure that all employees are compensated as required by law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “This case’s resolution shows employers that violating federal wage law can lead to legal action with costly consequences.”

Background:                          Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices — also available in Spanish — to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employers:    Ware Landscaping, Naperville, Illinois

                             Michael Ware, owner

Action:           U.S. Department of Labor complaint and consent judgment filing

Court:             U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Court action: The department has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring Ware Landscaping and its owner to pay $67,500 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 77 employees, after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer violated the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime and minimum wage provisions. 

Investigators determined the Naperville landscaping and snow removal company and owner Michael Ware paid its landscaping employees a flat weekly salary, though they were not exempt from the minimum wage or overtime provisions of the FLSA. As a result, the employer did not pay employees one and one-half their hourly rate for hours over 40 in a workweek and failed to pay at least one employee less than minimum wage for all hours worked. 

Quote: “Since 1938, federal law has required overtime wages be paid for over 40 hours worked in a workweek. Employers are responsible for knowing and complying with federal wage laws,” said Wage and Hour District Director Tom Gauza in Chicago. “Workers and employers with questions on wage laws should contact the department for compliance assistance.”

“The U.S. Department of Labor will continue to take legal action to protect workers’ rights to their earned wages and hold employers accountable for violating the law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago.

Background: Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – also available in Spanish –to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

United States Department of Labor v. Ware Landscaping 

Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-02293

Employer:      

West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, 7 Players Club Drive, Suite 2, Charleston, WV  25311

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the state agency failed to pay inspectors who worked overtime without pre-approval. The agency paid inspectors for a set amount of scheduled hours only and instructed them not to submit more than 40 hours per week on their timesheet, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages Recovered:       $57,396

Quote: “All employers, public and private sector, are legally required to pay their employees the proper wages for all hours worked,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Employers unsure of their obligations should contact the Wage and Hour Division to avoid compliance concerns and potential violations.” 

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division

STANDISH, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court order requiring T.J. Schmidt & Co. LLC, a Standish carnival operator, to pay $72,254 in back wages to 32 temporary nonimmigrant workers the employer hired to run midway games, staff food stands, and build and operate rides but then paid them less than the wages promised and did not fully reimburse all workers for travel to the U.S. as required.

On Aug. 1, 2024, department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges entered a consent decree in which the company agreed to pay the back wages and $13,746 in civil money penalties for violating federal regulations. The action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that examined the company’s records from April 1 through Oct. 12, 2021, and found that the employer violated some of the terms outlined in its federal H-2B temporary visa program application. 

“Employers seeking the Department of Labor’s permission to hire temporary visa workers must declare the types of workers’ tasks, pay rates and other compensation, and provide or reimburse these employees for their transportation to and from their home country and job site,” explained Wage and Hour District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit. “Let this case send a clear message to other employers who mistakenly believe they won’t be held accountable for ignoring their responsibilities in employing workers with temporary visa applications.”

In addition to paying back wages and penalties, the judge ordered the employer to use an approved timekeeping system, post prevailing wage information and provide non-immigrant workers with H-2B resource materials. The H-2B program allows employers to hire nonimmigrants to perform temporary nonagricultural jobs to meet seasonal, peak load or intermittent needs.

“The Department of Labor will pursue litigation vigorously against employers who violate the H-2B program’s requirements. We will work hard to make sure the rights of workers and their wages and benefits are legally protected,” explained Regional Solicitor Christine Heri in Chicago. “Employers who disregard their obligations under this voluntary program – harming workers and putting law-abiding employers at an economic disadvantage – will be held accountable.”

Founded in 2008, T.J. Schmidt & Co. LLC is a family owned and operated carnival operator. The company provides shows, rides, games, specialty foods and customer amenities to create traveling theme park experiences in Michigan.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for free on iOS and Android devices in English or Spanish to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

# # #

U.S. Department of Labor V. T.J. Schmidt & Co. LLC

OALJ Case No. 2023-TNE-00007

PAYETTE, ID – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $268,417 in back wages and liquidated damages for 76 workers after finding the employer housed them in substandard conditions and wrongly exempted many of them from overtime in violation of federal regulations. 

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Ontario Partners LLC had temporary H-2A agricultural workers processing onions from a farm not on their program application and did not pay the workers time-and-one-half rates for hours over 40 in a workweek. The Fair Labor Standards Act only allows employers to use its overtime exemption for employees who only process the employer’s own product.

 Additionally, investigators found the Payette company violated H-2A requirements by doing the following:

• Paying H-2A workers more than two U.S. workers.
• Failing to reimburse workers for transportation costs.
• Providing unsafe transportation to and from the work site.
• Housing workers in unsafe conditions with overflowing trash, mold and non-working smoke detectors.

The division assessed $44,152 in civil money penalties for willful violations of the FLSA, as well as various violations of federal regulations under the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. 

“Farmworkers provide essential labor that helps feed millions of Americans and have rights we will vigorously protect, regardless of the country they call home,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Katherine Walum in Portland, Oregon. “Agricultural employers who benefit from the H-2A program must provide safe transportation, pay the wages they promised and the costs of transportation to and from the U.S., and provide clean and safe housing.”

Owned and operated by Partner’s Produce, Ontario Partners LLC is a full-service onion packer and processor in Payette.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for free on iOS and Android devices in English or Spanish to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

This news release is also available in Spanish.

NEWARK, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order that requires two New Jersey construction companies and their owners and managers to pay $600,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 131 former employees after a federal investigation found the employers engaged in an illegal bonus pay scheme.

Entered by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the consent judgment follows an investigation  by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor. The division found that masonry and concrete contractors Innovative Design and Development LLC, E&N Construction Inc. and Shawn Roney, Joaquim Ferreira and Elio Ferreira - the companies’ owners and operators - engaged in illegal pay practices. 

Specifically, the division found that in addition to a weekly check for 40 hours worked, the Newark-based employers paid employees with a second bonus check for overtime hours at their regular rate of pay rather than the overtime rate of one-and-one-half times the regular rate, as required by law. They also discovered the employers tried to hide the scheme by not keeping adequate and accurate records of daily and weekly hours worked. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“For years, Shawn Roney, Joaquim Ferreira, Elio Ferreira and their companies schemed to withhold overtime wages earned by their hard-working employees and tried to cover up their wage theft by falsifying records. Their actions were a gross violation of federal law,” said Regional Solicitor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “The U.S. Department of Labor will use every means available and necessary, including litigation, to expose employers like these and hold them accountable for violating workers’ rights.” 

In addition to requiring the employers to pay back wages and liquidated damages, the court forbid them from future FLSA violations, retaliation against their employees, directly or indirectly, and seeking or accepting any of the back wages or liquidated damages paid to employees. Any company that the individual defendants own or operate will also be bound by these provisions. Defendants must also distribute flyers and fact sheets on workers’ rights and overtime pay requirements governed by the FLSA.

“These employers shortchanged people whose hard work enables their companies to profit and disregarded federal laws that protect workers’ rights,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Paula Ruffin, in Mountainside, New Jersey. “The outcome in this case shows there are costly consequences for violating employees’ trust and federal law, and potentially serious harm to a business’ public reputation.” 

The division’s Northern New Jersey District Office conducted the investigation. Trial attorneys Andrew Katz, Peter F. Kellett and Frances Y. Ma litigated the case for the department’s Office of the Solicitor in New York. 

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of their immigration status. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free, available in English and Spanish.

Su v. Innovative Design and Development LLC; E&N Construction, Inc.; Joaquim Ferreira, individually; Shawn Roney, individually; and Elio Ferreira, individually.

Civil Case No.: 2:19-cv-18495(SDW)(JBC)

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Employer:      Pace Enterprise LLC, operating as Pace Realty Group 

                             4005 SW 50th Ave. 

                             Amarillo, TX 79109 

Investigation findings: A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found the owner of Pace Enterprise LLC – operating as Pace Realty Group – misclassified 37 maintenance workers and parts runners as independent contractors and, by doing so, failed to pay them overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Additionally, the employer failed to keep legally required records.

Back Wages recovered: $75,061 in overtime wages and $75,061 in liquidated damages for 37 employees.                                             

Quote: “By misclassifying employees as independent contractors, the employer denied them full wages and important benefits and protections,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Employers have the legal obligation to follow labor laws. If you need help understanding labor law requirements, contact us.”

Workers can use the division’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to see if they are owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can contact the Wage and Hour Division for assistance at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including the agency’s restaurants compliance assistance toolkit and an overview about the FLSA protections for restaurant workers. 

Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish. 

PITTSBURGH – In one of the nation’s largest wage recovery judgments, a Pennsylvania federal court has awarded $35.8 million in overtime back wages and liquidated damages to 6,000 current and former workers employed by the operators of 15 residential skilled nursing, rehabilitation and assisted living facilities in western Pennsylvania that willfully denied them overtime pay.

After a 13-day bench trial, the July 22, 2024, judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania is the department’s latest step to recoup wages and damages, jointly and severally, from the 15 nursing facilities, their owner and CEO Samuel “Sam” Halper and CHMS Group, the payroll office that the defendants used to oversee and implement their illegal compensation practices. The action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division in Pittsburgh and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia.

“Far too often, our investigations find that workers who provide essential care services to those who need them most are not receiving their hard-earned wages from employers,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting workers’ rights to be paid fully and fairly and holding employers who violate these rights accountable.”

Specifically, department investigators discovered that the employers violated the Fair Labor Standards Act for years, across their enterprise, by doing the following:

• Willfully failing to pay employees for all hours worked, including work done during meal breaks.
• Failing to incorporate all promised compensation, including non-discretionary bonuses and shift differentials, when calculating overtime pay.
• Avoiding paying overtime by incorrectly treating employees as exempt from the act’s overtime requirements.
• Not keeping accurate records of hours employees worked and compensation due for those hours.

After the employers refused to resolve their violations administratively, the department filed suit in 2018 in federal court. The trial featured 50 testifying witnesses and more than 600 exhibits. Senior Trial Attorney Alejandro Herrera and trial attorneys Mohamed Seifeldein and Erik Unger conducted the trial on behalf of the department. A representative of the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer testified to the significant effort to summarize the employers’ inaccurate employment records and determine the amount of back wages due. In addition to being jointly and severally liable for the back wages and damages, Halper, CHMS Group and the 15 facilities are all permanently forbidden from further FLSA violations.

“The U.S. District Court’s decisive and historic ruling that Sam Halper and his nursing facilities willfully violated labor laws affirmed the Department of Labor’s position that the employers committed wage theft intentionally,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “The outcome of the department’s investigation and litigation also shows our unwavering commitment to enforcing the employee protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act and ensuring employers fulfill their obligation to comply with the law.”

The employers and their owners operate residential skilled nursing, rehabilitation and assisted living facilities throughout western Pennsylvania.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers and employers can contact the division confidentially, regardless of where they are from. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.