Employer name: Universal Fire Systems Inc.  

Investigation site: 374 Hobbs Road
Tampa, Florida 33619

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Universal Fire Systems paid overtime-eligible employees fixed salaries, based upon a 40 hour workweek, without regard to how many hours they actually worked. When installers and technicians performed work before their scheduled shifts, the company did not keep records or pay workers for those hours. Many of these workers reported to the employer’s shop to load tools and equipment on their trucks before heading off to the first job site of the day. This practice created an overtime violation when the unpaid time pushed workers’ totals beyond 40 hours in a workweek, and no overtime premium was paid. The company also failed to maintain required time and payroll records.

Resolution: The employer will comply with the FLSA and pay 92 employees $112,435 in back wages.

Quote: “Simply paying employees a salary does not in itself mean they are not entitled to overtime,” said James Schmidt, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Tampa. “Overtime does not need to be approved by the employer in advance to be enforceable. If employees perform work, those hours must be recorded and paid for. We will continue our vigilant enforcement to ensure that workers like those in this case bring home every penny they have rightfully earned.”

Background: Universal Fire Systems installs, inspects and repairs commercial and industrial fire systems.

Information: The FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for individuals employed in bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales positions, as well as certain computer employees. To qualify for exemption, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $455 per week. The department recently issued a Final Rule that will update that salary level to $913 per week as of Dec. 1, 2016.

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/.

Employers: Cumulus Inc.
ThunderCloud Inc.

Site: Several locations in Austin, Texas

Investigation Findings: A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found Cumulus Inc. and ThunderCloud Inc., each doing business as ThunderCloud Subs, violated the overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Investigations of several of the restaurant’s locations by the division’s Austin District Office revealed the employers:

• Failed to pay employees for all the hours that they worked. ThunderCloud allowed employees to work off the clock but paid only for scheduled hours, not hours actually worked.
• Failed to pay employees time and one-half for overtime hours worked, as required by law.
• Failed to pay overtime to several managers who did not meet the requirements for any exemption from overtime.
• Failed to keep accurate records of weekly hours worked by nonexempt employees.

Resolution: Cumulus Inc. paid $83,617 in back wages and liquidated damages to 324 workers, and ThunderCloud Inc. paid $44,250 in back wages and liquidated damages to 229 employees.

Quote: “Employers like ThunderCloud Subs have a responsibility to know and follow the law,” said Betty Campbell, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “The restaurant industry employs some of the most vulnerable workers we see, who are often afraid to complain when their employers do not pay them the wages they have earned. The U.S. Department of Labor will continue to vigorously enforce the law, and educate employers and employees to ensure proper wages are paid. Companies who violate the law must not gain a competitive advantage over employers that play by the rules.” 

Background:  The Cumulus Inc. and Thundercloud Inc. enterprises operate 30 restaurant locations and combined employ approximately 480 people.

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.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a hotline available for nearly 700 U.S. Senate cafeteria food service workers owed back wages by their employers. The hotline will provide workers who prepare and serve meals to Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffs with updates on the status of back wage payments owed to them.

In July 2016, federal food service contractor Restaurant Associates and its subcontractor, Personnel Plus agreed to pay $1,008,302 in back wages to 674 workers after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found they violated the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act when they improperly classified workers – paying them for lower-paying jobs than they actually performed – and required employees to work prior to their scheduled starting times without compensation. The companies also failed to pay the workers required overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Workers owed back wages identified in this investigation may call (443) 872-0161 for updates related to their payments, and to submit updated contact information

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The U.S. Department of Labor requested that a federal judge approve a consent judgment requiring the Puerto Rico Police Department to pay $8,732,386 in back wages and interest to 2,642 current and former police officers who did not receive all their overtime wages required under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The FLSA allows certain public sector employers to grant employees such as law enforcement officers one and one-half hours of compensatory time, in place of overtime wages, for each overtime hour worked.  The law caps the number of “comp time” hours that law enforcement officers can accrue at 480. This means employees must be paid overtime wages rather than continuing to receive comp time when they work hours that would push them beyond the 480 hour accrual ceiling. They are also entitled to cash payment for any accrued comp time when they terminate their employment.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that between June 2010 and August 2014 the commonwealth’s police department willfully committed a number of violations of the FLSA, most significantly regarding the failure to pay overtime properly. Similar investigations conducted between 2003 and 2009 resulted in the recovery of over $6,200,000 for 1,087 police department employees across Puerto Rico.

This latest investigation disclosed violations including the failure to:

• Pay overtime to officers and non-exempt sergeants who banked comp time hours in excess of the 480 hour limit.
• Pay former employees for their banked comp time hours at termination of employment or retirement.
• Record and pay canine officers for all on-duty hours spent caring for their police dogs.
• Record canine care and maintenance hours for employees involved in task forces with federal agencies.
• Record and pay police academy cadets overtime for mandatory activities that exceeded 40 hours in a workweek.

“These police officers put their lives on the line to protect the people of Puerto Rico every day,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jose R. Vazquez. “Now the law is protecting them, as they receive the overtime they have rightfully earned. This investigation, litigation and judgment will send a clear message that we will continue our robust enforcement, and to use all of the enforcement tools available to us to ensure that working men and women take home every penny they have rightfully earned.”

In addition to the payment of the back wages and interest, the proposed consent judgment, filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, requires the police department and the commonwealth to:

• Comply with all applicable FLSA requirements.
• Pay overtime to employees in a timely manner.
• Pay employees for their banked hours upon their retirement or termination.
• Pay canine employees two hours per day for canine care.
• Implement electronic recordkeeping and payroll systems to ensure prompt and accurate recording of work hours and timely payment of accurate wages.
• Provide approved training on FLSA requirements to all employees and supervisors.
• Provide annual progress reports to the Wage and Hour Division.
• Provide written notice of the consent judgment to all employees.

The proposed judgment also prohibits the defendants from committing future FLSA overtime and recordkeeping violations, withholding payment of the back wages and interest, retaliating against employees and having employees kick back the overtime wages and interest.

“The department worked with the commonwealth not just to obtain back wages but to design measures for ensuring ongoing compliance. These efforts show our continued commitment to safeguarding the wages to which these employees are legally entitled,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the department’s regional solicitor in New York.

The division’s Caribbean District Office conducted the investigation and Molly Biklen and Summer Silversmith from the department’s Office of the Regional Solicitor in New York handled the case.

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/.

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Perez v. Puerto Rico Police Department and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Civil Action Number: 3:16-cv-02849-CCC

Read this news release in Spanish.

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a building construction survey in Connecticut 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 projects between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016. 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 Connecticut,” 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 Jan. 31, 2017, to be included. To complete the survey electronically, visit www.dol.gov/whd/programs/dbra/wd10/index.htm

You do not need 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.

BOSTON — The U.S. Department of Labor is suing a Gloucester seafood processing, packing and distribution business; a Lowell temporary employment agency and payroll service that supplies temporary workers exclusively to the business, and their respective owners, for underpaying 55 vulnerable low-wage workers, falsifying records and taking improper payroll deductions from some of the employees.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Intershell International Corp and its owners Yibing Gao-Rome and Monte Rome, and Ultimate Advance Corp. and its owner Phalla Chhit, who jointly employed the workers, violated the overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In its lawsuit, the department alleges that Intershell and its owners, since February 2013, and Ultimate and its owner, since April 2015:

• Did not pay time and one-half their regular rate of pay to 55 employees who cut, cleaned and packed seafood when they worked more than 40 hours during a work week, including employees paid at an hourly rate and those paid on a piece rate basis.
• Failed to maintain adequate and accurate records of all employees’ hours of work.
• Provided inaccurate payroll records to the division’s investigators.
• Improperly deducted from certain employees’ pay the cost of cleaning their uniforms.

The department is asking the court to find the Intershell defendants liable for payment of the back wages and liquidated damages of at least $272,000; of that total amount, the Ultimate defendants are jointly liable for approximately $116,000.  The department also seeks an order permanently enjoining and restraining all the defendants from future FLSA violations.

“This case concerns low-wage workers who are vulnerable to exploitation. Employers in the seafood processing industry often use temporary agencies to provide workers and that arrangement can sometimes be used by employers to attempt to avoid their obligations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Establishing joint employment and holding the host company responsible for FLSA violations raises awareness of their responsibility and holds all parties accountable to comply with the law. Employers should take note of this and initiate corrective action when needed to ensure that their workers are properly paid,” said Carlos Matos, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director for Massachusetts.

“This case shows a ‘fissured workplace’ – one where the employment relationship between the workers and the business receiving the benefit of their labor has fractured because a company contracts out various activities to staffing agencies, often to avoid liabilities and to cut costs,” said Michael Felsen, the department’s New England regional solicitor. “In such arrangements, workers are frequently deprived unlawfully of the full wages to which they’re entitled. In this case both the company using the contract labor, and the staffing agency that provides the workers, are responsible as employers to comply with the law and subject to enforcement action if they don’t.”

The division’s Boston District Office investigated the case, while Senior Trial Attorney James Glickman and Trial Attorney Sheila Gholkar in Boston’s solicitor’s office filed the complaint.

For more information about the Fair Labor Standards Act and other 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/.

# # #

Perez v. Intershell International Corp., Yibing Gao-Rome, Monte Rome; Ultimate Advance Corp., Phalla Chhit.
Civil Action Number: 1:16-cv-11999

Read this news brief in Spanish.

Read this news brief in Portuguese.

Read this news brief in Khmer.

NEW ORLEANS – Two U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations found that a nursing care operator with multiple southern Louisiana facilities violated the minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The division’s New Orleans District Office found Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Health Care Consultants required employees to purchase medical scrubs, but failed to reimburse them for the cost which dropped the employees’ earnings below the federal minimum wage in the weeks they made the purchases.

Investigators also identified overtime violations at all six locations. Specifically, the employer failed to combine employees’ hours when they worked at more than one of the company’s facilities during the same workweek. This practice results in workers receiving payment at only straight time rates for overtime hours, another FLSA violation. The division also found LHCC failed to keep required records.

“Minimum wage and overtime violations like these are all too common in the health care industry and many other industries,” said Betty Campbell, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “Employers have an obligation to fully understand the laws pertaining to fair and legal compensation of their workers. These employees worked long, hard hours on behalf of this employer, and now they’re finally getting the pay they deserve. We will continue to use every enforcement tool available to us to ensure that workers like these take home every penny they have earned.”

The division’s investigation covered LHCC’s nursing homes are Maison De’Ville Nursing Home of Harvey LLC and Elizabeth Caring LLC in Harvey, Maison De’Ville Nursing Home Inc. in Houma, Uptown Healthcare Center LLC in New Orleans, Plaquemine Manor Nursing Home Inc. in Plaquemine and Raceland Manor Nursing Home Inc. in Raceland.

As a result of the investigation, the employer paid $88,146 in back wages and liquidated damages to 161 employees and $31,328 in civil money penalties. LHCC also signed an agreement to prevent future minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping violations through added measures, including:

• Creating a company intranet where employees may complete required state training during work hours.
• Instituting a policy to prevent employees from working at another LHCC location without consent of management. If an employee does work at two or more locations, the employer agrees to combine the employee’s hours worked in each work week for the purpose of computing overtime.
• Ceasing to require workers earning $8.50 or less per hour to wear uniform scrubs for the first 30 days of employment. Employees will receive a $100 stipend for uniforms on their second paycheck and each subsequent year to cover the price of uniforms.
• Providing training to employees at all six locations on the FLSA and how to report possible violations to the company and or the department.
• Reviewing employees’ time records quarterly to ensure compliance with the Act. Records will be made available to the department.
• Noting adjustments to time records and keep them for three years.

The Wage and Hour Division continues to conduct investigations in low-wage industries where data and evidence show high rates of non-compliance, and where workers are less likely to complain. Both education and enforcement continue in the health care industry in which a high violation rate exists.

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 New Orleans District Office at 504-589-6171. Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting a residential construction survey in the state of Alaska. The division is currently collecting data on all residential construction projects active between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 statewide. The survey is not limited only to federally funded construction projects. The division will use the information provided to establish prevailing wage rates required under the federal Davis Bacon and Related Acts.

“Participation by contractors and interested parties in this survey is crucial to the process,” said Ruben Rosalez, the division’s regional administrator for the West. “Davis Bacon prevailing wage rates should reflect the wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the counties in which they are working. Accurate wages can only be determined with full participation by Alaska’s construction industry community. A lack of participation leads to wage rates that do not reflect ‘your’ wages, as well as incomplete wage determinations – which lead to increased requests for additional classifications.”

Notification letters and “WD-10” data collection forms are being sent to interested parties and contractors known to the Wage and Hour Division. Participants’ responses must be postmarked by March 3, 2017, to be included. To complete the survey electronically, visit http://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 and forms, contact Luis Cabuhat at (415)241-3538 or Rose Huynh at (415)241-3539.

Date of Action: Oct. 5, 2016

Type of Action: Filing of lawsuit

Name of Defendants: Bailey Picker Repair
Burley Glenn Bailey, owner and manager

Allegation: After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Bailey Picker Repair, and its owner Burley Glenn Bailey of Lake City, Arkansas, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay 10 current and former employees $32,133 in overtime pay, the department filed suit. Investigators in the division’s Little Rock District Office determined Bailey paid employees straight time for all hours worked, including overtime hours. The employer claimed that the business is exempt from paying overtime because its employees maintain and repair agricultural equipment and power tools. The division determined the exemption does not apply since the mechanics rarely work on site on a farm for a farmer; instead, they work on site at the owner’s shop for the overwhelming majority of the work day.

Quote: “Employers like Bailey Picker Repair are required to know and apply the law correctly, especially when they are claiming an exemption,” said Betty Campbell, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “Applying an exemption incorrectly costs workers the wages they’ve rightfully earned, and can result in accumulating a significant back wage liability, additional liquidated damages and court costs.”

Resolution: The department seeks $32,133 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for a total of $64,266, and an injunction against future FLSA violations.

Background: Bailey Picker Repair maintains and repairs agricultural equipment and power tools. With approximately six mechanics, the establishment is located in Lake City.

Additional Information: The FLSA provides an exemption from overtime for employees engaged in agriculture,  and for any salesman, parts man or mechanic primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks or farm implements if employed by a non-manufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling such vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers.    Neither exemption was found to apply to the employees in this investigation.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonesboro, Arkansas Division 3

Docket Number:  3:16-cv-273-KGB

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing

Names of Defendant(s): ARS Ohio LLC
Gary C. (“Chris”) Finn
Karen Finn

Complaint: The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal court to recover approximately $41,323 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 30 current and former employees of a Cincinnati vehicle repossession service. The suit also names the company’s owner Gary Finn and his wife, Karen Finn, who assisted in managing the company’s payroll.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division revealed that ARS Ohio violated the FLSA by:

• Failing to pay employees for all hours worked.
• Paying straight time and/or commission only to workers employed as “camera car” drivers who locate vehicles pending repossession, office personnel and lot technicians.  This practice resulted in minimum wage and overtime violations when commissions failed to cover all hours employees worked at $7.25 per hour, and when they worked more than 40 hours in a week without overtime compensation.
• Failing to keep accurate records of employee’s hours worked and pay received.

The investigation found at least 14 employees due $11,759 in minimum wage and at least 19 employees due $29,564 in overtime pay.

The complaint also seeks injunctive relief for willful violations of the FLSA. The Wage and Hour Division has assessed civil money penalties of $28.050 in the case.

Quote: “ARS Ohio failed to pay its employees properly and, as our suit alleges, presented false records to our investigators to avoid paying worker’s their rightfully earned wages,” said George Victory, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Columbus. “This employer is acutely aware of wage laws covering its employees. Our action demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that workers receive every penny they have rightfully earned. We encourage other employees being paid in this manner to notify the Wage and Hour Division.”

Information: The FLSA requires that employers pay covered, nonexempt employees at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular hourly rates for hours worked beyond 40 per week. As a general rule, the FLSA provides that employers who violate the law are liable to employees for their back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. Liquidated damages are paid directly to the affected employees. Additionally, the law requires employers to maintain accurate time and payroll records and prohibits retaliation against employees who exercise their rights under the law.

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

Court: 1:16-cv-00963-MRB
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, Cincinnati