WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. – Ten workers at a Minnesota title company will receive $107,893 in back wages and unpaid fringe benefits after the title insurance company that employed them was found in violation of the Service Contract Act during an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The employees worked on real estate closings on a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Labor Department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges issued a decision and order effectively resolving a lawsuit filed by the department in July 2014 against Northwest Title Agency Inc., Chief Executive Officer Wayne Holstad and Chief Operating Officer Joel Holstad. As a result, the company has been debarred from bidding on federal contracts for three years.

“Contractors that do business with the federal government have an obligation to pay their employees the required contractual rates and benefits,” said David King, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Minneapolis. “When employers fail to do so, they undercut employers who play by the rules, in addition to shorting their workers. The department will not hesitate to pursue legal action, including debarment, to ensure employees working on federally funded projects are properly paid and to level the playing field for contractors.”

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the White Bear Lake-based company failed, among other things, to:

• Pay legally required prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits to the workers on this contract.
• Maintain required records of hours worked and to segregate hours for contract work from non-contract work.
• Notify the employees that work performed on the HUD contract was subject to SCA requirements.

The decision and order found Northwest Title and Wayne Holstad jointly liable for $67,893 of underpayments and barred each from bidding on federal contracts for a period of three years.

Joel Holstad and the department filed a separate settlement agreement in July 2016 in which he agreed to pay $40,000 in back wages.

The company held the HUD contract from April 2010 through April 2011, with an additional option year through April 2012.

The SCA requires contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees in various classes no less than the prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits found in the locality, or the rates, including prospective increases, contained in a predecessor contractor’s collective bargaining agreement. The department issues wage determinations on a contract-by-contract basis in response to specific requests from contracting agencies. These determinations are incorporated into the contract. Additional information on labor provisions and enforcement of government contracts is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/govcontracts/.

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

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a residential construction survey in 25 eastern Pennsylvania counties 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 residential construction projects that occurred between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, in the following counties: Adams, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Delaware, Dauphin, Franklin, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Lancaster, Lebanon, Wyoming and York. It is not limited to federally funded construction projects.

“Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates should reflect the actual wages and fringe benefits paid to residential construction workers in the locations where the work takes place. This can only happen with full participation by the residential construction community in these eastern Pennsylvania counties,” 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 Nov. 30, 2017, to be included. To complete the survey electronically, visit www.dol.gov/whd/programs/dbra/wd10/index.htm

You do not need to receive a letter to answer the survey. If you would like to participate, or have questions regarding the survey process or completing the WD-10 form, contact William E. Schweizer at 267-687-4031.

DAWSON, Pa. – A Southwestern Pennsylvania farm and landscaping company has paid nearly $22,000 in back wages and penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the operator failed to recruit and hire U.S. workers before hiring workers under the H-2A visa program, in violation of section 218 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Dawson-based Christner Farms LLC illegally denied one qualified U.S. worker the opportunity to work on the farm, resulting in the back wages due.

“The H-2A visa program provides protections against employers hiring foreign workers over qualified U.S. workers,” said John DuMont, director of the division’s district office in Pittsburgh. “We will continue to make every effort to ensure that U.S. workers are not unfairly denied jobs.”

The division also found that Christner failed to cooperate with the state’s workforce agency by not accepting referrals of all eligible U.S. workers who applied for the job opportunity. The company also failed to provide housing for agricultural workers that met required housing safety and health standards, and post required information about the temporary agricultural employment of foreign workers.

Christner has paid $11,275 in back wages and $10,463 in civil money penalties to resolve the matter.

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, Community Outreach and Resource Planning specialists conduct ongoing activities to educate stakeholders, including employers, employees, business and labor groups and professional associations with accessible, easy-to-understand information about their rights and responsibilities.

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

ANDOVER, N.J. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges approved a consent finding and order to resolve a complaint filed against a New Jersey-based mail delivery contractor and others for failing to pay legally required wages and benefits to employees. Under the order, the company agreed to pay $245,000 in back wages. The department is now distributing the wages to the affected workers.

Dennis K. Walker Trucking Co. Inc. – doing business as Walker Trucking Co. – agreed to pay 23 drivers back wages for violating prevailing wage, fringe benefits and record-keeping provisions of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. The Andover company was also debarred from eligibility to bid on future government contracts for three years. Walker Trucking had been contracted by the U.S. Postal Service to haul mail.

The department filed a complaint against the company; its officer Mary B. Walker; manager Dennis K. Walker Jr., and D&M Leasing Corp., after an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division found that – from June 27, 2013, to June 26, 2015 – Walker Trucking Co. and Mary Walker failed to pay the prevailing wage to 10 drivers, full health and welfare fringe benefits to 23 drivers, and full vacation fringe benefits to eight drivers, as required by the SCA. The division also found that the firm failed to keep a record of the hours worked by employees.

“The resolution of this case ensures that workers at this company were paid the wages we found they rightfully earned, ensuring a level playing field for other mail-haul contractors,” said John Warner, director of the division’s Northern New Jersey District Office.

“Our goal is to ensure that companies that follow the rules – and their workers – are not placed at a disadvantage by those companies that do not,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the department’s regional solicitor in New York.

The SCA applies to federal and District of Columbia contracts worth more than $2,500 that provide services in the U.S. using service employees. Contractors and subcontractors performing on covered service contracts must pay their service workers no less than the wages and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality, or rates contained in a predecessor contractor’s collective bargaining agreement.

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/.

BALTIMORE – A North Carolina company that rounds up live chickens for poultry processors has paid nearly $600,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 838 workers as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Marshville company, Unicon Inc., paid the back wages to employees who worked as chicken catchers and van drivers. Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions at the company’s worksites throughout the northeast and southeast.

The violations resulted from the company’s failure to pay for all the hours employees had worked.  Specifically, Unicon made automatic deductions from payroll for lunch and other breaks that crew leaders and catch crew members did not actually take. The firm also failed to pay workers for time they spent on work activities prior to the start of the actual catching process, and failed to pay crew leaders for time spent picking up catch crew members and cleaning company vans. The division also cited the employer for not maintaining time and payroll records.

 “This agreement goes a long way to ensure that Unicon’s workers are made whole by providing the wages they earned. It also levels the playing field for other employers in this industry,” said Mark Watson, administrator of the division’s Northeast Region.

The division is committed to providing companies with the tools they need to understand and comply with  labor laws. 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/.

Date of Action: May 8, 2017

Type of Action: U.S. District Court decision

Name of Defendants: Foreclosure Connection, Inc.
Jason Williams, owner

Findings: U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball for the District of Utah, Central Division, has ruled that workers of Foreclosure Connection, Inc. – a Salt Lake City company that acquires, remodels, rents and re-sells foreclosure properties – are employees, and not independent contractors as the defendants alleged. The court also found the company and its owner, Jason Williams, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when they willfully retaliated against employees and interfered with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigation. The division found the employer threatened workers and instructed them to withhold information and records from its investigator.

The court has ordered the defendants to pay $161,985 in back wages and damages to the affected employees.

During its investigation, the division determined the defendants had terminated two workers who asked the division about unpaid overtime. The employer also refused to provide the division with records it requested, and was generally uncooperative with investigators; claiming that all of its workers were independent contractors not subject to the FLSA. The investigation uncovered voice recordings in which the employer threatened workers and instructed them to withhold information and records.

Quote: “Workers should not have to fear their employer’s retaliation when they exercise their rights under the law,” said Betty Campbell, Southwest regional Wage and Hour Division administrator. “The court’s decision reaffirms the department’s conclusion – the individuals are, in fact, employees with rights that protect them from workplace retaliation.  This case is an example of our commitment to protecting workers and to leveling the playing field for law-abiding employers.”

Additional Information: For more information about compliance with the FLSA, visit www.dol.gov/whd/, or call 866-4US-WAGE.

Civil Action Number: 2:15-cv-00653-DAK

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a New York City design and construction company and its owners to pay $726,989 in back wages and liquidated damages to 184 employees and take other corrective actions to resolve past overtime and recordkeeping violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Design Development NYC, Inc., had misclassified almost all of its employees as independent contractors, an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found.

The misclassified employees worked in numerous jobs, including carpenters, draftspersons, drivers, electricians, laborers, painters, and plumbers and tilers. The company also wrongfully considered three employees as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime compensation requirements, paying them a fixed weekly salary without regard to hours worked.

As a result, misclassified employees and non-exempt employees – some of whom worked 70 hours per week or more – did not receive proper overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. 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.

“This resolution commits this company to positive and effective steps to prevent future violations,” said Mark Watson Jr., the Wage and Hour Division’s northeast regional administrator.

“Our goal is to ensure that employees receive the hard-earned wages due them and that law-abiding businesses can compete fairly in the marketplace,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the regional solicitor.

The company and owners, Michael Daddio and Earl Brian, neither admit nor deny the allegations; they have agreed to a consent judgment, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, which requires them to comply with the FLSA by determining employees’ overtime exemption status properly and recording employees’ work hours accurately, among other requirements. They will also submit complete samples of time and payroll records for all employees to the division for its review, and supply current and new employees with written notification of their rights under the FLSA in languages the workers understand.

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.

The division’s New York City District Office conducted the FLSA investigation. Trial Attorney Frances Y. Ma of the department’s New York Regional Solicitor’s Office handled the case for the division.

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.

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.