OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a survey of residential construction projects in metropolitan Oklahoma counties to help establish prevailing wage rates as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

The division is collecting data on wages paid to workers on all residential construction projects statewide from Oct. 1, 2015, to Jan. 31, 2017. The survey is not limited to federally funded projects.

“Participation in the survey is crucial to the process, and should reflect the wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the county where they work. We need the full participation of Oklahoma’s construction industry community,” said Betty Campbell, the Wage and Hour Division’s Southwest regional administrator.

Without a high level of survey participation, the state’s wage rates will not reflect actual wages and will prevent proper and accurate wage determinations from being created, leading to an increase in requests for additional classifications. Wage data should be submitted for all projects meeting the criteria, regardless of how they are funded.

The 18 counties covered in the survey are: Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Creek, Grady, Le Flore, Lincoln, Logan, McClain, Oklahoma, Okmulgee, Osage, Pawnee, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa and Wagoner.

The division urges industry employers to participate to ensure Davis Bacon wage rates and fringe benefits represent a truly prevailing wage. Your participation makes a difference. 

The division is sending notification letters and “WD-10” data collection forms to interested parties and contractors of which it is aware. Data must be postmarked by Nov. 3, 2017, to be included in the survey. Participants may also complete the survey online at http://www.dol.gov/whd/programs/dbra/wd10/index.htm.

Contractors do not need to receive a letter to participate in the survey. To participate or ask questions regarding the survey process and forms, contact Craig L. Jackson at (214) 749-2021.

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a construction survey in Vermont to collect data on wages paid to workers to help establish prevailing wage rates, as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

The survey includes wages paid on all building construction, heavy construction and highway construction projects in the state that occurred between Feb. 1, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017. It is not limited to federally funded construction projects.

“Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates should reflect the actual wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the locations where the work takes place. This can only happen with full participation by the construction industry community in the state of Vermont,” said Mark Watson, the division’s regional administrator for the Northeast. “Participation by contractors and interested parties is crucial. Low response can lead to wage rates that do not reflect wages and incomplete wage determinations, which leads to an increase in requests for additional classifications.”

Notification letters and data collection forms, known as WD-10s, are being sent to interested parties and contractors known to the division. Data must be postmarked by Oct. 31, 2017, to be included. To complete the survey electronically, visit www.dol.gov/whd/programs/dbra/wd10/index.htm

Contractors do not need to receive a letter to answer the survey. To  participate or ask questions regarding the survey process or completing the WD-10 form, contact William E. Schweizer at 267-687-4031.

SAN DIEGO – The CEO of a leading U.S. staffing company will pay a former live-in domestic service worker $135,000 in back wages and damages under the terms of a consent judgment entered into the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The judgment, entered on April 11, 2017, resolves a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Labor on Aug. 22, 2016. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Himanshu Bhatia willfully and repeatedly violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and record keeping provisions from July 2012 to December 2014, as well as the act’s anti-retaliation provision.

The complaint alleged that Bhatia paid her domestic service worker a fixed monthly salary of $400 plus food and housing at Bhatia’s home in San Juan Capistrano and other residences in Miami, Las Vegas and Long Beach. Investigators found that the employee suffered callous abuse and retaliation, including being forced to sleep on a piece of carpet in the garage when ill, while Bhatia’s dogs slept on a mattress nearby. The complaint also alleged that Bhatia confiscated her employee’s passport.

Bhatia terminated the worker in December 2014 after she found her employee researching “labor laws” online, and after the worker refused to sign a document stating she was being paid an adequate salary and had no employment dispute with Bhatia.

“This consent judgment underlines the department’s commitment to protecting workers from exploitation,” said Janet Herold, solicitor for the department’s Western Region. “The department will take strong and immediate action to ensure that workers are protected against retaliation.”

The consent judgment orders the defendant to pay $135,000 in damages, including back wages, liquidated damages, and other damages.

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/.

Read this news release in Spanish.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has secured a consent judgment in federal court ordering two Gloucester-based fish processors – Zeus Packing Inc. and Cape Ann Seafood Exchange Inc. – and the companies’ owner Kristian Kristensen to pay over $200,000 in liquidated damages to more than 100 employees to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the defendants violated the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements from October 2011 through September 2014, and owed 132 employees $203,998 in back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages.

The companies and Kristensen paid the back wages in December 2015, but refused to pay the damages and civil money penalties assessed for the violations. As a result, the department filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in March 2016 to recover those amounts.  After almost a year of litigation and negotiation, the defendants agreed to settle the matter by consent judgment.

In addition to requiring payment of $203,998 in liquidated damages covering the investigative period, the judgment also orders the defendants to pay $7,215 in back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages to the employees, on account of violations committed after the close of the investigation, and $29,500 in civil money penalties to the department. The judgment also restrains the defendants from future violations of the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements.

“Employers are best served by recognizing that, as a general rule, if they fail to pay workers the proper minimum wage and overtime pay, they will be liable to pay double,” said Michael Felsen, regional solicitor for New England.  “As this case demonstrates, the department takes that employer responsibility under the law seriously.”

“The Wage and Hour Division is committed to providing companies with the tools they need to understand and comply with a variety of labor laws,” said Mark Watson, the division’s northeast regional director.

The division 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. Information is available in a variety of languages. In addition, the division’s Community Outreach and Resource Planning Specialists conduct ongoing outreach activities to educate businesses, professional associations, labor groups and others  with  easy-to-understand information about rights and responsibilities.

The division’s Boston District Office conducted the original investigation. Attorneys James Glickman and Sheila Gholkar litigated the case for the department.

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

# # #

Hugler v. Zeus Packing Inc., Cape Ann Seafood Exchange Inc. and Kristian Kristensen
Civil Action Number:  16-10442-DPW

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor and a Philadelphia commercial printer have entered into a consent judgment that requires the company to pay $273,892 in back wages and liquidated damages to a group of temporary employees to resolve past violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Under the agreement, back wages will be paid to 136 temporary employees who worked as machine operators and general laborers at Bartash Printing, Inc. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions.

Bartash used a temporary help agency, VQ Management, Inc. – doing business as Managed Staffing and/or Best Staff – to acquire the workers, but failed to ensure they were paid the legally required wages. The workers were paid $6.25/per hour in cash, below the required federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Bartash also failed to ensure the workers received the required overtime payments when they worked beyond 40 hours in a workweek. Bartash also failed to maintain the required payroll records for these workers.

“Although Bartash acquired workers through a temporary agency, it still had a legal responsibility as a joint employer to ensure that the workers received proper wages as the law requires,” said James Cain, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Philadelphia District Office. “The resolution of this case should inform other employers who may acquire employees through a temporary help agency – it illustrates their responsibility to ensure that these temporary workers are being paid in compliance with the law.”

Bartash Printing specializes in newspaper and magazine publishing, including press, bindery and mail operations. In addition to the back wages and liquidated damages, the company has agreed to pay a civil monetary penalty of $31,350.

The Wage and Hour 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/.

# # #

Editor’s Note: A change was made in the third paragraph to clarify the responsibility for wages.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – A federal judge has ordered Cathedral Buffet and its owner to pay $388,507 in back wages and damages to 235 “volunteers” who worked at the Cuyahoga Falls restaurant. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and other provisions.

U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio Benita Pearson wrote that testimony at a trial in late 2016 supported the department’s findings that the owner of Cathedral Buffet, televangelist Ernest Angley, and managers encouraged members of Angley’s church – Grace Cathedral – to work at the restaurant without pay. The for-profit restaurant used volunteers to save money, and the volunteers felt pressured to provide free labor, meaning they should have been paid for their work, Pearson wrote in her findings entered on March 29, 2017.

George Victory, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Columbus, said that “the buffet’s constant solicitation of volunteer labor, the company’s admission that the use of volunteer labor was intended to save money, and the volunteers’ feelings of pressure to work at the restaurant shows they were actually employees. That is unacceptable under the law. There are many instances, however, in which the use of volunteers is acceptable. Organizations with questions about compliance should contact us.”

The investigation found FLSA violations that included:

• Improperly treating certain workers as volunteers and paying them no wages. These unpaid volunteers cooked, cleaned, waited tables, stocked and maintained the buffet line, and served as cashiers.
• Classifying 235 employees as unpaid volunteers, denying them the $7.25 hourly minimum wage.
• Paying four managers weekly salaries that failed to meet the $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage, and failing to pay overtime after 40 hours. The employer incorrectly categorized these managers as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirement.

The overtime and other FLSA violations were resolved in a partial consent judgment entered by the court on Oct. 26, 2016.

Cathedral Buffet and Angley have 60 days to appeal the court’s decision.

In 1999, the division investigated the buffet restaurant and it later paid more than $37,000 in back wages to employees improperly classified as volunteers. In 2012, Angley decided to again use volunteer labor, the Wage and Hour Division found.

Workers and employers can get more information about federal wage laws administered by the division by calling the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can also file complaints confidentially. More information is available online at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration
National Labor Relations Board
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration
U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service
U.S. Small Business Administration
Louisiana Workforce Commission’s Office of Unemployment Insurance Administration

What: Prevailing wage seminar in New Orleans

When: April 11-13, 2017

Where: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
500 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Background: The Wage and Hour Division’s Prevailing Wage Seminar is a free, three-day compliance training event designed for regional stakeholders (private contractors, state agencies, unions, federal agencies and workers). At these seminars, conference participants will learn about:

• Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.
• McNamara O’Hara Service Contract Act.
• Executive Order 13495 “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers.”
• Executive Order 13658 “Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors.”
• The process of obtaining wage determinations and adding classifications.
• Compliance assistance and enforcement processes.
• The process for appealing wage rates, coverage, and compliance determinations.

Stakeholders and employers who wish to attend this event need to register here.

For any questions please send email to: WHD-PWS@dol.gov.

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Wage and Hour Division
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
Veterans’ Employment and Training Service

What: U.S. Labor Department Employer Forum

When: March 28, 2017
8 a.m.-3 p.m. CDT

Where: Francis Tuttle Technology Center
Business and Industry Services
12777 N. Rockwell Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73142

Background: The U.S. Department of Labor will host an employer forum to provide free compliance assistance and training in key areas affecting companies of all sizes. Representatives from the Employee Benefits Security Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service and the Wage and Hour Division will be on-hand to provide area employers, company managers, human resources professionals and others with the resources and training needed to comply with federal requirements.

The forum will offer a “one-stop” opportunity for employers to hear and speak directly with the many of the agencies that support key workplace issues such as wages, recordkeeping, pensions, 401(k) savings plans, safety and health, government contracting, and recruiting and training for former military service members.

The day will begin with a general assembly, followed by breakout sessions featuring the participating agencies. Participation is free, but seating is limited. Registration may be completed online at Eventbrite, by calling Jessica Parker at (405) 595-3469 or e-mailing parker.jessica@dol.gov.

ATLANTA – The National Federal Farm Labor Certificate of Registration Unit will hold two mobile processing events in Florida to register farm labor contractors and employees. This free service is being offered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

On March 29-31, 2017, the certification team will travel to the University of Florida Ag Extension Offices in Sebring and Immokalee. The team will provide assistance to customers – including walk-ins – who need their initial, renewal or amended certificate processed. Certificates will be issued the same day if the applicant’s fingerprints are registered and cleared.

Division staff will assist customers on Wednesday, March 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT at 4509 George Blvd., in Sebring.

Staff will be available on Thursday, March 30, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT at 2685 FL-29 in Immokalee, as well as on Friday, March 31, from 8 a.m. to noon EDT.

Customers are encouraged to contact 415-241-3505 or mspaflc@dol.gov to schedule an appointment. The program will not accept any information related to certification by mail at these locations.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Labor and two subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Co. have reached an agreement that will provide $3.8 million in back wages to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Under the agreement, back wages will be paid to 16,339 employees of the Disney Vacation Club Management Corp. and the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. Inc., both in Florida. The department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of FLSA.

Disney resorts in Florida deducted a uniform or “costume” expense that caused some employees’ hourly rates to fall below the federal minimum wage, the division said. The resorts also did not compensate employees performing duties during a pre-shift period before the designated start of their shifts, and during a post-shift period. Additionally, the resorts failed to maintain required time and payroll records.

“These violations are not uncommon and are found in other industries, as well,” said Daniel White, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Jacksonville. “Employers cannot make deductions that take workers below the minimum wage and must accurately track and pay for all the hours their employees work, including any time they work before or after their scheduled shifts. We hope the resolution of this case alerts other employers who may be paying employees in a similar manner, so that they too can correct their practices and operate in compliance with the law.”

“The Disney resorts were very cooperative throughout the investigative process and worked with the division to ensure employees received the pay they earned,” White said.

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.

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