PORTLAND, Ore. – The owner of an Oregon concrete company that contracted with the federal government recently started a two-month prison sentence for lying to federal investigators. The crime occurred when he told U.S. Department of Labor officials that he had paid employees more than $93,000 in back wages that the Department’s Wage and Hour Division found the company owed its workers following a 2014 investigation.

The Department’s investigation revealed that Westwind Concrete had failed to pay the proper prevailing wage rates on a project in Tualatin in violation of the Davis Bacon and Related Acts, which applied because the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development financed the project. Westwind Concrete is based in Cloverdale.

Westwind owner Jeffery Hurliman assured the division that he would pay more than $93,000 in back wages he owed to 27 workers and later provided certifications that he claimed were from his employees attesting to having received back wages.

The Department’s Office of Inspector General investigated Hurliman after officials in the division’s Portland office noted discrepancies on the proofs of payment. The investigation revealed that the certifications were falsified and that when Hurliman learned about the investigation, he offered money to employees to lie to investigators.  

The Department's findings led to federal criminal prosecution against Hurliman and a two-month prison sentence. Hurliman agreed to a deal in January 2017 in which he pleaded guilty to witness tampering and providing false statements to the government, both felonies, and began his sentence on June 15, 2017. He will be on supervised release for three years following his release from prison on Aug. 15, 2017. In the meantime, the department has sued to prevent him from obtaining future government contracts.

“The resolution of this case sends a clear message – the U.S. Department of Labor will continue to enforce the law to level the playing field for employers who play by the rules, and to ensure that workers are paid what they have legally earned,” said Portland Wage and Hour Division Director Thomas Silva. “We remain committed to educating employers, workers, and the public to improve compliance with federal labor laws across the board.”

The DBRAs require all contractors and subcontractors performing work on federal and certain federally funded projects to pay their laborers and mechanics the proper prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits, as determined by the secretary of labor. The prime contractor is responsible for the compliance of subcontractors and lower-tier subcontractors on these projects.

OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Sonic Industries Services Inc. – franchisor of the SONIC Drive-In restaurant chain – have signed a voluntary agreement to help SONIC’s independently owned and operated franchise locations comply with federal labor laws. As part of the agreement, the Oklahoma City-based franchisor will provide a forum and the resources needed to assist the division in educating SONIC Drive-In owners, managers, and employees nationwide.

“We encourage other franchisors to follow SONIC’s example and take similar steps to benefit their franchises’ employees and owners by complying with the law,” said Wage and Hour Division Deputy Administrator for Program Operations, Patricia Davidson. “Abiding by the law makes better business sense than facing the prospect of paying back wages, damages, and penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

The Division will provide easy-to-use compliance assistance tools designed for the franchise restaurant industry. The package will include video and online training, educational articles for use in internal company publications, and sample training materials for use in company staff meetings. The Division will also make representatives available to provide training and compliance assistance to SONIC franchisees, and the Division and SONIC will collaborate using publicly available data to promote franchisee compliance with the FLSA.

SONIC Drive-In is the nation’s largest drive-in restaurant chain, serving approximately 3 million customers daily. Nearly 94 percent of its 3,500 drive-in locations are locally owned and operated.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as well as time-and-one-half their regular rates for every hour they work beyond 40 per week. The law further requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees’ wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. It also establishes a minimum age of 18 for workers in those nonagricultural occupations that the secretary of labor declares to be particularly hazardous for 16- and 17-year-old workers or detrimental to their health or well-being. The FLSA also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the law.

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). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor will publish a Request for Information for the overtime rule on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. The RFI is an opportunity for the public to provide information that will aid the department in formulating a proposal to revise these regulations which define and delimit exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements for certain employees.

The RFI solicits feedback on questions related to the salary level test, the duties test, varying cost-of-living across different parts of the U.S., inclusion of non-discretionary bonuses and incentive payments to satisfy a portion of the salary level, the salary test for highly compensated employees, and automatic updating of the salary level tests. 

The RFI will be published in the Federal Register with a 60-day public comment period. Instructions on submitting public comments are in the RFI. Comments may also be submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. 

Click here for a preview copy of the RFI. 

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed an injunction against the owners of two medical offices in Brooklyn to prevent further retaliation against employees who refused to provide false information to obstruct the department’s investigation into alleged violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

In a complaint filed June 30, 2017, the department alleges that almost immediately after the department’s Wage and Hour Division notified Neurological Care P.C. of its overtime and record keeping violations, the employer demanded that employees submit false written statements to investigators in which they were to state they had been paid legally. When two employees refused to do so, the employer demoted them and slashed their work hours in retaliation. 

Specifically, the complaint alleges the employer:

• Instructed employees to provide false information to investigators.
• Retaliated against employees who refused to provide false information to investigators, demoting the general manager and a medical technician to receptionist jobs, reducing their hours of work, and singling them out for disproportionate discipline and other hostile treatment at work.
• Paid approximately 41 employees only for their scheduled hours of work, and generally refused to compensate employees for hours worked over 40 when many employees worked approximately 45 hours per week or more.
• Advised employees that the company had an office policy of not paying overtime.
• Failed to pay employees for working during apparent lunch breaks.
• Regularly required employees to work substantial hours before and after the office closed to the public without compensation.
• Created handwritten records that generally recorded only the weekly scheduled hours worked (rather than the actual hours worked) for each employee.
• When the employer did record hours employees worked beyond 40 scheduled hours in a week, the employer paid employees for those hours only at their straight time rates, rather than paying them overtime premium pay.

The defendants have since agreed by stipulation to the provisions set forth in the injunction, which the court ordered to prevent further retaliation or intimidation.

“The Wage and Hour Division will utilize all tools under the Fair Labor Standards Act to prevent employer retaliation and to ensure that employees can exercise their legal rights free from intimidation,” said David An, district director of the division’s New York City District Office. “Such an environment not only protects workers but also helps to level the playing field for employers who play by the rules.”

“Employers cannot expect to mislead the government with impunity,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, regional solicitor New York Regional Office. “When an employer engages in egregious retaliatory conduct, we will use every mechanism at our disposal, including litigation, to protect workers and safeguard the integrity of the government’s investigatory process.”

Senior  trial attorneys Elena S. Goldstein and Daniel Hennefeld of the department’s New York Regional Solicitor’s Office are litigating the case for the department.

The FLSA requires that employees receive one-and-one-half their regular rates of pay when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek and that employers maintain adequate and accurate records of employees’ wages and work hours. It is a violation of the FSLA for any person to discharge or in any other manner discriminate against any employee because he or she has filed a complaint or cooperated in an investigation. See Retaliation Fact Sheet.

The division is committed to providing employers with the tools they need to understand and comply with the variety of labor laws the division enforces. It offers useful resources ranging from an interactive E-laws advisor to a complete library of free, downloadable workplace posters. In addition, the division’s Community Outreach and Resource Planning Specialists conduct ongoing outreach activities to educate stakeholders, including employers, employees, business and labor groups and professional associations, among others, with accessible, easy-to-understand information about their rights and responsibilities.

For more information about the FLSA, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or its New York City District Office at 212-264-8185. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.   

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration
National Labor Relations Board
Louisiana Workforce Commission/Office of UI Administration

What: U.S. Department of Labor Employer Compliance Assistance Training

When: Aug. 3, 2017
8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. CDT

Where: F. Edward Hebert Federal Building.
600 South Maestri Place, Suite 400
New Orleans, LA 70130

Background: The U.S. Department of Labor provides compliance assistance and training events to assist employers in complying with federal workplace laws. On Aug. 3, representatives from the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Wage and Hour Division, National Labor Relations Board and the Louisiana Workforce Commission will be on-hand in New Orleans to provide area employers, company managers, human resources professionals and others with the useful resources and training.

This is a “one-stop” training opportunity for employers to hear and speak directly with many of the agencies that support key workplace issues such as wages, recordkeeping, safety and health and government contracting, and unemployment insurance.

There is no cost to attend, but space is limited.Click here to register to attend the event.

For more information about the event, send your questions to Sabikkandel.williams@dol.gov.

EAST ORANGE, N.J. – Three East Orange construction companies have entered into a consent judgment  with the U.S. Department of Labor and will pay $850,000 in back wages and damages to 153 workers to resolve violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found that DKNJ Masonry Corp., Roy Rock LLC and Silver Construction Inc. – all controlled and operated by Rui Pires – violated the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

Investigators found that the companies and Rui Pires, which all admitted that they jointly employed their workers in each workweek, failed to pay overtime at time-and-a-half when employees worked more than 40 hours. Instead, the employer paid for overtime hours at straight-time rates and failed to keep adequate records of hours worked. The division found DKNJ violated the law by hiding overtime in a separate payroll of another company, Silver Construction. Silver shared the same space, staff and management as DKNJ Masonry/Roy Rock. Investigators determined the second company was used to evade FLSA requirements.

“The construction industry is highly competitive. A company that avoids paying legally required wages gains an unfair advantage over its competitors,” said John Warner, director of the Northern New Jersey District Office. “Our goal is to ensure that workers receive the wages they have earned and that law-abiding businesses can compete fairly in the marketplace,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, regional solicitor.

The division is committed to providing companies with the tools they need to understand and comply with the variety of labor laws the division enforces. It offers useful resources ranging from an interactive Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses advisor to a complete library of free, downloadable workplace posters. In addition, the division’s Community Outreach and Resource Planning Specialists conduct ongoing outreach activities to educate stakeholders, including employers, employees, business and labor groups and professional associations, among others, with accessible, easy-to-understand information about their rights and responsibilities.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time-and-one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also must maintain accurate time and payroll records.

For more information about federal wage laws administered by the division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

This case was investigated by the Wage and Hour Division’s Northern New Jersey District Office and litigated by Stacy Goldberg and Jacob Heyman Kantor of the Solicitor’s Office.

• Read this release in Spanish
• Read this release in Portuguese

Employer: Colima’s Carniceria y Taqueria

Site: 611 Tulare St., Parlier, California

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Colima’s Carniceria y Taqueria owners Maria and Martin Cobian violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees time-and-a-half their regular hourly rates for hours worked beyond 40 in a week. The employer also failed to make, keep and preserve accurate records of the wages, hours and other conditions and practices of employment.

Resolution: An agreement between the department and Colima’s owners was reached, and a consent judgment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Fresno on June 15, 2017. The restaurant and its owners agreed to pay $50,000 in overtime due to workers and an equal amount in damages, totaling $100,000 for the employees. The owners will also implement a new time-keeping system and arrange for an all-employee meeting with Wage and Hour Division officials to inform workers of their FLSA rights.

Quote: “We look forward to continuing to work with employers and workers alike in the Central Valley to ensure they understand federal labor requirements for overtime and minimum wage,” said Nora Pedraza, the Wage and Hour Division’s assistant director in Fresno. “This settlement puts money back in workers’ pockets while also ensuring the company complies with the Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.”

Information: For more information about federal wage laws administered by division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor will reinstate the issuance of opinion letters, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced today. The action allows the department’s Wage and Hour Division to use opinion letters as one of its methods for providing guidance to covered employers and employees.

An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the Wage and Hour Division of how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by an employer, employee or other entity requesting the opinion. The letters were a division practice for more than 70 years until being stopped and replaced by general guidance in 2010.

“Reinstating opinion letters will benefit employees and employers as they provide a means by which both can develop a clearer understanding of the Fair Labor Standards Act and other statutes,” said Secretary Acosta. “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to helping employers and employees clearly understand their labor responsibilities so employers can concentrate on doing what they do best: growing their businesses and creating jobs.”

The division has established a webpage where the public can see if existing agency guidance already addresses their questions or submit a request for an opinion letter. The webpage explains what to include in the request, where to submit the request, and where to review existing guidance. The division will exercise discretion in determining which requests for opinion letters will be responded to, and the appropriate form of guidance to be issued. 

Employers: Forge Building Company, LLC

Site: 2619 West Lampert Drive, Boise, Idaho

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Forge Building Company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions. The company – a provider of customized manufactured galvanized steel structures and storage facilities – failed to pay workers overtime at time-and-one-half for hours worked beyond 40 in a work week. In addition, the employer made illegal deductions from workers’ paychecks to recoup the cost of tools it required them to purchase. These deductions had the effect of lowering the workers’ pay below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Resolution: In an agreement with the department, Forge will pay minimum wages to eight employees and overtime premium to 97 employees, with total back wages calculated at $358,601. The company also agreed to pay an equal sum of $358,601 in damages, totaling $717,202 for the workers.

Quote: “Our investigation has discovered violations resulting in wages that these workers had rightfully earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Silva. “This case allows us to level the playing field for all of the employers who play by the rules. We are dedicated to protect both workers and employers.”

Information: For more information about federal wage laws administered by division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

Employer: Freshore Hospitality, LLC doing business as Willows Inn on Lummi Island

Site: 2579 West Shore Drive, Lummi Island, Washington

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Willows Inn violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay overtime and minimum wage to its employees. The restaurant required entry-level kitchen staff known in the industry as “stages” to work one month as a free try-out period before they were considered for paid employment. Once on the payroll, the kitchen workers were paid daily rates from $50 per day for up to 14 hours per day with no consideration of weekly overtime premium.

Resolution: Willows Inn reached a settlement with the department in which the company agreed to pay $74,812 in unpaid overtime to 19 kitchen workers and an equal amount in damages, totaling $149,624 for the employees. The company also canceled its “stage program” and agreed to comply with federal wage laws in the future.

Quote: “We hope this case can educate others in the high-end restaurant world that “staging,” while common, is unfair to workers, and it is illegal,” said Jeanette Aranda, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s office in Seattle. “This case allows us to level the playing field for employers who play by the rules by complying with the law. We are dedicated to educating and protecting both workers and employers.”

Background: Recognized recently as one of the world’s best luxury farm stays, the Willows Inn on Lummi Island specializes in serving meals created from local Pacific Northwest ingredients. Like many restaurants, Willows Inn relied on “stages” (originates from the French word “stagiaire,” meaning trainee, apprentice or intern) to supply unpaid labor. The stages were asked to perform kitchen work including cleaning dishes, polishing silverware, collecting herbs, prepping vegetables and assembling dishes. The stages also devoted hours to cleaning facilities and painting the exterior of Willow Inn buildings.

Information: For more information about federal wage laws administered by division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.