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/.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and UnWrapped, Inc. have reached a settlement agreement that will allow employees of the Massachusetts sewing factory to recover $890,021 in back wages and liquidated damages to resolve past violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that UnWrapped failed to pay proper overtime rates to 327 piece rate and hourly workers between April 2014 and April 2016, and failed to keep accurate records. The FLSA requires that employees receive one-and-one-half their regular rates of pay when they work more than 40 hours in a work week.

The division’s investigation was part of a joint enforcement effort with the Fair Labor Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. The state’s investigation identified alleged violations of Massachusetts law involving failure to pay minimum wage, failure to provide earned sick time and retaliation against two workers who cooperated with the investigation, for which the company will pay $293,170.

“This cooperative federal-state effort and the resulting settlements provide these 327 employees, many of them low-wage workers, with wages they earned but were not paid in the first place. They also help level the economic playing field for those companies that comply with the law and pay their employees correctly,” said Mark Watson Jr., the division’s northeast regional administrator.

UnWrapped is a Lowell, Mass., company that produces products, such as mattress covers, pillows, tote bags and custom items, under contract.

Under the terms of the Wage and Hour Division agreement, UnWrapped will complete payment of back wages and damages to the workers by no later than March 15, 2017, and will submit proof of payment to the division. The company has paid a civil money penalty of $8,350 for a child labor violation and also agreed to refrain from retaliation against any employees for filing a complaint or testifying in a matter related to the FLSA.

The Wage and Hour 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.

Trial Attorney Mark Pedulla of the department’s Boston Regional Solicitor’s Office provided legal support in this matter.

For more information about the FLSA, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or its Boston District Office at 617-624-6700. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

Employer: Cintas Fire Protection Services

Sites: 2188 Del Franco St., #70
San Jose, California

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Cintas Fire Protection Services violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay fire sprinkler installers and testers for some hours they worked that were not billable to clients. These hours included time spent sending email, completing reports and submitting timesheets. The division has cited Cintas several times in the past for similar violations at its locations across the nation.

Resolution: Cintas Fire Protection Services will pay $1.3 million in unpaid wages and damages to 81 workers throughout Northern California and an additional $44,500 in civil penalties. The company also has agreed to stringent monitoring to prevent future violations, including:

• Organizing a nationwide compliance team.
• Establishing a hotline for workers to voice their complaints.
• Reserving the right to terminate managers who allow off the clock work to occur.
• Agreeing to conduct rigorous field audits.

Quote: “Cintas shortchanged employees for some hours they worked that could not be billed to clients, despite us explaining the law to them directly in the past,” said Susana Blanco, director of the Wage and Hour Division office in San Francisco. “The results of this investigation should send a strong message about how seriously the Wage and Hour Division takes compliance. Not only will dozens of workers now receive their long overdue wages, but Cintas has also agreed to a series of measures to prevent these types of violations in the future.”

Information: Cintas Fire Protection Services is a subsidiary of Cintas Corp. Headquartered in Cincinnati. Cintas provides more than 900,000 customers with highly specialized products and services such as corporate identity uniform programs; entrance and logo mats; restroom supplies; promotional products; first aid; safety; fire protection products and services; and industrial carpet and tile cleaning. The company operates more than 400 facilities in North America – including six manufacturing plants and eight distribution centers. 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/.

NEW YORK – A hotel management company and the company which supplied employees to nine of its New York City hotels have agreed to resolve an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The hotels’ management company – Hersha Hospitality Management LP – and Labor for Hire and related companies, which provide employees to work at the hotels, have agreed to take extensive remedial measures designed to ensure future FLSA compliance. In addition, the company that provided the workers has agreed to pay $275,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to more than 600 employees.

HHM is one of the nation’s leading hotel management investment and development companies, providing operational support, revenue management and guest service support – for more than 125 hotels in 20 states. It is headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Labor for Hire is based in Brooklyn. The division determined that under the FLSA, these companies are considered to have jointly employed the workers supplied by Labor for Hire for the nine HHM-managed hotels.

The division found instances where the companies:

• Misclassified some workers as independent contractors rather than employees.
• Failed to pay some employees for hours spent in training.
• Failed to pay some employees overtime for weeks when they worked more than 40 hours, including paying room attendants on a per-room basis without any overtime premium.
• Failed to make and keep adequate records of employees’ daily and weekly hours of work, or their regular or overtime rates of pay.

“This agreement recovers wages and damages for these hundreds of workers, and commits both employers to implementing comprehensive actions to prevent future violations at all hotels for which HHM hires staffing agencies to provide workers,” said David An, district director of the division’s ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­New York City District Office.

“Wage violations negatively impact both employees who are denied their legally earned compensation and those businesses which are put at a competitive disadvantage because they pay their employees correctly in the first place. We do not hesitate to take appropriate steps to rectify them when they occur and pursue outcomes to prevent their recurrence,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the department’s regional solicitor of labor in New York.

As part of the resolution of this case, HHM agrees to take the following actions at all HHM-managed hotels across the nation:

• Ensure that contracts with staffing agencies servicing HHM-managed hotels include provisions requiring compliance with the FLSA.
• Designate a corporate compliance officer, who will oversee a confidential employee complaint hotline and investigate and resolve complaints of wage violations and
• Train managerial employees who work at HHM-managed hotels on topics including how to properly keep time records, how to compute the hours worked by hotel workers, how to calculate and record breaks and meal periods, and on the rights of workers to engage in activities protected by the FLSA without fear of retaliation. 

In addition, at the nine hotels covered by the investigation, HHM agrees to conduct regular audits of pay records, investigate and resolve violations, and decline to renew contracts with non-compliant staffing agencies.

LFH has signed a separate compliance agreement that, in addition to requiring the payment of back wages and liquidated damages, commits the labor provider to:

• Include a written provision in all contracts with all entities to which they provide workers specifically requiring that those employers comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including but not limited to the FLSA.
• Ensure that all of LFH’s managerial employees are familiar specifically with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations regarding waiting time, rest and meal periods and paying employees on a piece-rate basis.
• Train all newly hired or newly promoted managerial employees on the same topics within 30 days of their employment start date.
• Provide each LFH employee with a copy of the FLSA Basic Information Sheet, in English, Spanish and Russian. 

Labor for Hire provided room attendants, housekeepers, supervisors, housemen, stewards, engineers, engineer helpers, maintenance workers, laundry workers, kitchen helpers, dishwashers, cooks, servers, bussers, hostesses, front desk staff, and maintenance workers, among other positions to work at HHM hotels.

The HHM-managed hotels covered by the investigation are:

• Hampton Inn at 320 Pearl St.
• Hampton Inn at 32 Pearl St.
• Hilton Garden Inn at 148-18 134th St., Jamaica.
• Hilton Garden Inn at 39 Avenue of the Americas.
• Hilton Garden Inn at 206 East 52nd St.
• Holiday Inn at 51 Nassau St.
• Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water St.
• Sheraton Hotel at 132-26 South Conduit Ave., Jamaica.
• Hilton Garden Inn at 237 West 54th St.

The division’s ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­New York City District Office conducted the investigation, and Jason Glick, Elena Goldstein, and Dustin Saldarriaga, attorneys from the department’s Office of the Regional Solicitor in New York assisted the division in securing the settlement.

For additional information about these and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, call its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor investigated two popular Solvang tourist restaurants and determined that they denied wait staff break time to express breast milk in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Paula’s Pancake House and the Belgian Café, which share common ownership, denied the nursing mother her right to break time to express milk in the workplace. The employer also retaliated against the woman when she voiced concerns, investigators determined.

“Employers must accommodate the needs of workers to express milk” said Susan Bacon, assistant director of the Wage and Hour Division in Los Angeles. “These restaurants denied a woman her legally required break time and basic facilities and, when one employee spoke up for herself, the employer retaliated against her for requesting something that is well within her rights.”

The investigation disclosed that managers at Paula’s and the Belgian Café verbally discouraged the employee from taking breaks to express breast milk. Additionally, the employer failed to offer express milking facilities that were shielded from public view, or free from coworkers’ and public intrusion.

The investigation found that retaliatory actions included the employer reassigning one employee to a later shift and moving her to a slower counter section of the restaurant in an attempt to reduce impact on customer service during her pump breaks. These changes directly impacted her ability to earn tips and came after she requested time and space to express milk.

The division found the restaurants’ actions established a hostile environment for all nursing mothers, discouraging them from taking their breaks fearing retaliation of losing their section or shift.

To address the investigation’s findings, the owner of Paula’s Pancake House and the Belgian Café has signed a compliance agreement with the department, requiring the employer to provide training on FLSA compliance to management staff, and paid $666 in back wages and damages to the employee for the retaliatory actions that reduced her schedule.

The FLSA’s Section 7 requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child. Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. For more information, visit dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers.

Employer: Star Finishes LLC
9705 Burnet Rd., # 317
Austin, TX 78758

Site: Austin, Texas

Investigation Findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators in Austin found Star Finishes LLC violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act . The employer misclassified employees as independent contractors and subsequently paid them straight time for overtime, without regard to the number of hours they actually worked. Overtime violations resulted when these employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek yet received no overtime pay. The employer also failed to display required posters informing employees of their rights under federal law.

Resolution: Star Finishes LLC paid $182,472 in overtime back wages to 82 current and former employees and agreed to comply with the FLSA in the future.

Quote: The misclassification of employees as independent contractors is an alarming trend, and a practice we see all too often in the construction industry said Betty Campbell, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “Misclassified workers are denied fair wages and access to critical benefits and protections that come with their rightful status as employees. Companies that violate the law in these cases also gain an unfair economic advantage over employers who play by the rules.”

Background: Established in 2008, Star Finishes is a commercial painting company in Austin. The company employs approximately 30 employees.

Information: For more information about federal wage laws, call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or its Austin District Office at 512-236-2560. Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

Employer name: Gulf Coast L&P Inc., doing business as Rent-n-Roll

Investigation site: 1059 North Eastern Blvd.
Montgomery, Alabama 36117

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Birmingham District Office determined that Rent-n-Roll, a tire and wheel retailer, violated the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found that the employer reduced the number of hours worked that employees recorded on their timesheets. This practice resulted in Rent-n-Roll failing to pay at least the legally required federal minimum wage for all the hours some employees worked and in overtime violations when employees worked more than 40 hours in a work week yet were not paid for some of those hours. The company also violated recordkeeping requirements when their altered time records failed to reflect accurately the hours employees had worked.

Resolution: Rent-n-Roll will comply with the FLSA and pay 14 employees $13,583 in back wages plus an additional equal amount in liquidated damages, totaling $27,166.

Quote: “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring all workers receive the wages they have rightfully earned,” said Kenneth Stripling, director of the Wage and Hour division’s Birmingham district office. “The back wages and damages paid in this case should remind all employers to ensure that they are paying their workers according to the law. We encourage employees who believe they are not being paid properly, or employers with questions about how to comply with the law to contact us for compliance assistance.”

Background: Based in Moss Point, Mississippi, the company sells and rents custom wheels and tires. The retailer has stores in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Tennessee. 

Information: 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/.

Employer name: Tifton Peanut Co. Inc. #2

Investigation site: 225 Windy Hill Road
Tifton, Georgia 31794

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Atlanta District Office, found that Tifton Peanut Co. #2 violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found the peanut processing company paid 46 employees straight time for all the hours that they worked, when the FLSA requires overtime payment at time-and-one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked beyond 40 in a work week. During the employer’s busy season, employees who typically worked at the firm’s primary location also performed work at a secondary location. Tifton Peanut failed to include any hours employees worked at the second work site when calculating overtime wages. The employer also failed to maintain required time and payroll records.

Resolution: The employer will comply with FLSA and pay 46 employees $55,323 in back wages.

Quote: “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring that all employees receive the proper wages for all the hours they have worked,” said Eric Williams, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Atlanta. “The outcome of this investigation serves as a reminder to all employers to review their pay practices to confirm that workers are being paid as the law prescribes, and that we will continue to work to level the playing field for employers who play by the rules.”

Background: The peanut company operates two facilities in Tifton. Plant #1 is a shelling facility and plant #2 specializes in cleaning, drying and grading the peanuts.

Information: 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/.