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/.

Employer name: All Native Services Co.

Investigation site: 375 Perry St.
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia 31096

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, Atlanta District Office, found that All Native Services violated the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. The employer failed to pay the correct prevailing wage rates as required for technical writers, drafters/computer aided design operators and production control clerks employed on a contract at Robins AFB to perform technical data support services such as editorial support and publication editing.

Resolution: All Native Services has signed an agreement confirming its commitment to comply with the SCA and has paid 64 workers $507,610 in prevailing wages due.

Quote: “When an employer receives federal tax dollars to provide services to the government, they must comply with all applicable laws and ensure that employees are paid the legally required prevailing wages their contract requires,” said Eric Williams, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Atlanta. “All Native Services denied its workers their hard-earned wages and gained an unfair advantage over other contractors. We will continue our vigorous enforcement of the law to ensure that taxpayer-funded projects such as this one deliver a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and maintain a level playing field for all contractors.”

Background: All Native Services is a subsidiary of Ho-Chunk Inc., a tribal development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Ho-Chunk Inc. operates 34 subsidiaries and employs more than 1,000 workers spanning more than 16 states and eight foreign countries. Other subsidiary operations include information technology, construction, government contracting, green energy, retail, wholesale distribution, marketing and transportation.

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/.

Date of action:  December 29, 2016

Type of action:  McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act Debarment Action

Names of respondents:  Restaurant Associates LLC, Restaurant Associates Inc., and Dick Cattani
132 West 31^st Street, Suite 601, New York, NY 10001

Background:  In July 2016, federal contractors Restaurant Associates, LLC., Restaurant Associates, Inc., and their subcontractor, Personnel Plus, agreed to pay back wages in the amount of $1,008,302 to 674 workers after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the contractors violated the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act by paying workers less than the wages required under the Act and failing to pay for all hours worked. The workers prepared and served meals for Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffs in the U.S. Senate cafeteria. In September 2016, the contractors agreed to pay an additional $12,443 in back wages the division found due to four employees.

As a result of these violations of the Act, the department is initiating debarment proceedings to prevent Restaurant Associates LLC, Restaurant Associates Inc., and their principal officer, Dick Cattani, from serving as federal contractors. If debarred, the contractors would be placed on a list of ineligible government contract bidders for a three-year period.

Quote:  “Doing business with the federal government is a privilege and not a right,” said Oscar L. Hampton III, regional solicitor in Philadelphia. “Federal contractors should conduct their business in accordance with the highest standards and comply with the law by paying their workers the wages to which they are legally entitled. The complaint underscores those principles, and was filed to ensure a fair and level competitive playing field for all federal contractors and a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work for all those who perform work pursuant to federal contracts.”

Court: U.S. Department of Labor Office of Administrative Law Judges

PASSAIC, N.J. – Fifty-five low-wage production workers who spend long work days sewing and loading mattresses at a Passaic mattress refurbishment company will soon receive their share of $292,998 in back wages and liquidated damages after the company entered into a consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The agreement resolves the department’s Wage and Hour Division investigation of Citi Mattress Inc., which found the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying the workers the proper overtime pay when they worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.

“The outcome in this case demonstrates our commitment to protecting the nation’s vulnerable, low-wage workers from exploitation,” said John Warner, district director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division in Northern New Jersey. “This agreement guarantees that the workers will be compensated properly for all of the hours they worked and provides added safeguards to protect employees in the future.”

In addition to paying the back wages and damages, the judgment requires the company to take the following measures to ensure future compliance with the FLSA:

• Use a time clock or other automated timekeeping system.
• Permanently display the poster “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” in English and Spanish.
• Provide information about the FLSA to current and new employees in English and Spanish.
• Maintain proper time records for all employees.
• Provide non-exempt employees with a statement reflecting the hours worked for each day in the workweek and total hours each workweek.

“Employers have a legal responsibility to pay employees the proper wages,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the department’s regional solicitor in New York. “This action underscores how aggressively we plan to enforce the law when employers fall short of that responsibility.”

The division’s Northern New Jersey office conducted the investigation. Daniel Hennefeld and Molly Biklen in the department’s New York regional solicitors’ office litigated the case.

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. Employers who violate the law are liable to employees for their back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. Both back wages and liquidated damages are paid directly to the affected employees.

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

Employer name: Southern Sanitation Inc.

Investigation site: 7706 B Hampton Place
Loganville, Georgia 30052

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

Investigators found the waste management company failed to pay overtime to 32 employees. The employer paid truck drivers and helpers a fixed rate per day, without regard to how many hours they worked. By doing so, Southern Sanitation caused overtime violations when the employees worked more than 40 hours in a work week and the employer failed to pay the required time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay. Additional overtime violations occurred when the employer made deductions illegally for time spent in short rest breaks – which are compensable – and when deductions from pay were made for meal breaks that employees did not take. The employer also failed to maintain required time and payroll records.

Resolution: Southern Sanitation will comply with the FLSA and pay 32 employees a total of $37,933 in back wages.

Quote: “This case is another example of a recycling company paying a flat day rate to drivers and failing to pay employees the overtime pay that they have legally earned,” said Eric Williams, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Atlanta. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to educating employers about their legal responsibilities while also investigating those companies that employ practices that cheat workers out of their proper compensation and that undercut their competitors.”

Background: Southern Sanitation provides residential curbside solid waste and recycling services throughout the state of Georgia.

Information: For more information about the FLSA, call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or the Atlanta District Office at 678-237-0521. Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

Employer: Amigo Farms, Inc.

Sites:4245 East 32^nd St.
Yuma, Arizona

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Amigo Farms, Inc. failed to pay lettuce pickers at fields in Winterhaven, California, for time spent on the job waiting for ice to melt off the produce in the winter months. At times, the thaw could take 1 to 3 hours per day.

Resolution: Amigo Farms, Inc. will pay $13,000 in unpaid wages to 32 workers. The employer will also pay $1,400 in civil penalties and change its recordkeeping practices.

Quote: “We have a growing concern over the illegal practice of failing to pay workers for time spent waiting while they’re on the clock,” said Rodolfo Cortez, director of the Wage and Hour Division office in San Diego. “Employers have a responsibility to know what counts as work time, and to pay their workers accordingly. The Wage and Hour Division has provided annual training to farmers in Southeastern California and in parts of Arizona, primarily in Spanish, to help them understand their responsibilities. Employers should have a contingency plan during inclement weather so workers are not left standing in the cold and not being paid as required.”

Information: Amigo Farms owns and harvests a total of 6,517 acres primarily in lettuce and cabbage, supplying lettuce and leafy greens to consumer brands such as Taylor Farms, Dole, Fresh Ex, Ready Pack, True Leaf and Green Gate. 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/.

Background: The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act requires farm labor contractors, agricultural employers and agricultural associations that employ any migrant or seasonal agricultural worker to pay the minimum wage, promised wage, and pay for all hours worked in accordance with federal labor laws.

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Employer: El Calamar Inc.

Site: 315 West 17th St.
Santa Ana, California

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the El Calamar restaurant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay required overtime  to 11 workers employed as cooks. The employer sometimes paid these workers straight time for overtime, in cash; sometimes made only partial overtime payments, in cash; and sometimes recorded only 80 hours worked in a two-week period on the payroll when, in fact, the employees worked 60 to 90 hours per week on average.

Resolution: To resolve the violations, El Calamar has entered into an agreement with the department and will pay $48,007 in overtime back wages and an equal, additional amount in damages to 11 employees. Owners Hugo and Maria Camacho also have agreed to implement a new electronic time-keeping system and cease the practice of cash payments.

Quote: “Failing to pay overtime, making cash payments, and keeping inaccurate payroll records are all-too-common labor violations in the restaurant industry,” said Rodolfo Cortez, district director of the Wage and Hour Division in San Diego. “These underpaid employees will now receive their rightfully earned wages. The resolution of this case should send a clear message to other employers who may be paying their workers in this manner – we will continue to use every enforcement tool available to improve compliance in this industry, and to ensure that workers take home every penny they have earned.”

Information: The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal 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. The law also provides that employers who violate the law are liable to employees for back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

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.

Read this news brief in Spanish