AMARILLO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $52,497 in back wages for 134 workers with disabilities after an Amarillo nonprofit – which provides rehabilitation and vocational training services to adults with developmental and physical disabilities – failed to pay them the required subminimum wage rate.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Advo Companies Inc. violated federal law when the employer paid employees with disabilities an incorrect subminimum wage based on flawed time studies and incorrect prevailing wage rates. Additionally, the employer failed to provide pre-employment transition services and vocational rehabilitation services for workers 24 and younger and failed make sure all workers were provided with career counseling services, related information and referrals and training opportunities required by Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act, which negated the employer’s ability to pay the subminimum wage associated with its Fair Labor Standards Act’s 14(c) certification.

“Employers must comply with federal regulations and pay workers with disabilities at the proper rate for all the hours they work,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We are committed to making sure all workers receive the highest protections to which they are entitled and we encourage employers and employees to contact us for compliance assistance.”

Since 1991, Advo Companies Inc. has provided services for adults with developmental and physical disabilities, including vocational training, adult day and rehabilitation services, and operates approximately 27 residential homes.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers can contact the division confidentially at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of immigration status. The division can communicate with callers in more than 200 languages. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App, which is available in English and Spanish for Android and Apple devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.                                      

RALEIGH, NC – The Department of Labor is encouraging employers and stakeholders in North Carolina’s highway construction industry to participate in a statewide survey to help its Wage and Hour Division establish prevailing wage rates for construction workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects.

The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts require the department to set the prevailing wage rates that reflect the actual wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the county where the work occurs. 

This survey requests information about wages paid by employers on highway construction projects in North Carolina where construction occurred from May 20, 2023, to Aug. 20, 2024. Not limited to federally funded construction projects, survey findings are critical to the publication of prevailing wage and fringe benefit rates that reflect the rates paid accurately in the area being surveyed. Complete determinations also reduce the number of contractors requesting additional labor classifications. The department encourages all industry employers and stakeholders to participate whether or not they receive a letter to participate.

The division will send notification letters to interested parties and contractors known to the agency that will direct them to the website where they can complete the survey. To be included, please complete and submit the online survey by Aug. 20, 2024. Online completion of the survey is strongly encouraged. 

Participants may also submit the information by mail but must first contact the division at (866) 236-2773 and request a form be mailed to them. Learn more about the surveys. 

If you have questions about the survey process and forms, please contact the Davis-Bacon Survey Center at (866) 236-2773 or Davisbaconinfo@dol.gov. 

People interested in getting more information about this survey may attend one of two free, online briefings that will describe the survey process and offer instructions for completing the survey. These briefings will be held on May 21, 2024, and May 23, 2024. Register to attend an upcoming briefing. 

Employer:      Alumatech Furniture Manufacturing Inc. 

6063 17th St. 

East Bradenton, FL 34203

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor investigators found a Florida furniture manufacturer did not pay eight employees overtime rates as required for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the employer failed to pay overtime to piece-rate and commission-based workers when required.  

Back wages and liquidated damages recovered:   $92,562 for the affected workers.

Civil money penalties:   $8,328 assessed given the employer’s repeat violations.

Quote: “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring workers get every dollar they earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “Employers who choose to pay employees by piece or hour must still pay non-exempt employees the required overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Employers should contact the Wage and Hour Division to ensure their pay practices comply with the law. Faulty pay practices can lead to sizeable wage and damage recoveries and possibly penalties, all of which makes for a very costly lesson.”

Background: Alumatech Furniture Manufacturing Inc. manufactures, sells and repairs outdoor furniture at its Bradenton factory. The company began operations in 1988 and today employs about 55 workers. In a previous investigation, the division found Alumatech failed to pay overtime premiums to piece-rate workers. A review of pay records from September 2016 through September 2018 led to the recovery of more than $8,000 in back wages and an assessment of $734 in civil money penalties to resolve its violations.

Employers and workers alike can contact the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE – regardless of where they are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. Workers and employers can help track hours worked and pay by downloading the department’s Android timesheet app for free, which is available in English and Spanish. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced a final rule to strengthen protections for farmworkers. The rule targets vulnerability and abuses experienced by workers under the H-2A program that undermine fair labor standards for all farmworkers in the U.S. 

The H-2A program allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers when the department determines there is a lack of able, willing and qualified U.S. workers to perform the agricultural labor or services, and that employing temporary labor will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

“H-2A workers too frequently face abusive working conditions that undercut all farmworkers in the U.S.,” said Acting Secretary Julie Su. “This rule ensures farmworkers employed through the H-2A program are treated fairly, have a voice in their workplace and are able to perform their work safely. It also promotes employer accountability, benefitting all farmworkers by upholding labor standards. The Biden-Harris administration is committed to being the most pro-worker administration in history, and this rule is a significant milestone in that effort.” 

The final rule includes the following:

• Adding new protections for worker self-advocacy: The final rule improves workers’ ability to engage in advocacy regarding their working conditions by expanding the range of activities protected by anti-retaliation provisions. For workers not protected by the National Labor Relations Act, this rule protects workers’ choice to engage in self-organization or concerted activities and to decline attending employer-sponsored “captive audience” meetings where employers discourage workers from joining unions or engage in other protected activities. The rule also allows workers to consult key service providers, such as legal service providers, and to meet with them in employer-furnished housing. Workers also may now invite and accept guests, including labor organizations, service providers and others, to their employer-furnished housing.
• Clarifying “for cause” termination: Workers employed under the H-2A program have the right to payment for three-fourths of the hours offered in the work contract, as well as housing and meals until the worker leaves, outbound transportation and — if the worker is a U.S. worker — to be contacted for employment in the next year, unless they are terminated for cause. The final rule clarifies that an employer only terminates a worker for cause when the worker either fails to comply with employer policies or fails to perform job duties satisfactorily after, in most cases, the transparent application of a system of progressive discipline. The rule establishes that for a worker to be terminated for cause, five conditions must be met, including a requirement that workers are either informed about or reasonably should have known the policy, rule or performance expectation unless the worker has engaged in egregious misconduct. 
• Making foreign labor recruitment more transparent: The final rule imposes new disclosure requirements to improve foreign worker recruitment chain transparency, provides additional information about the nature of the job opportunity and bolsters the department’s ability to protect workers from exploitation and abuse. The new provisions require employers to provide a copy of all agreements with any agent or recruiter they engage or plan to engage, disclose the name and location of any person or entity working for the recruiter who will solicit prospective H-2A workers and disclose in the H-2A application the name, location and contact information of the workplace’s owners, operators and managers.
• Ensuring timely wage changes for H-2A workers, which helps prevent an adverse effect on the wages of similarly employed workers in the U.S.: Returning to longstanding practice, the final rule designates the effective date of updated adverse effect wage rates as of the date of publication in the Federal Register. This change safeguards fair compensation for workers under the H-2A program and addresses potential adverse effects on the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers in the U.S. The rule would also require employers who fail to provide adequate notice to workers of a delay in their start date to pay workers the applicable rate for each day that work is delayed for up to 14 days.
• Improving transportation safety: Many H-2A workers travel in vans or buses, sometimes driven after long days by tired workers. The final rule includes a seat belt requirement to reduce the hazards associated with the transportation of farmworkers. If a vehicle is required by Department of Transportation regulations to be manufactured with seat belts, the final rule prohibits the operation of these vehicles to transport workers under the H-2A program unless each occupant is wearing a seat belt. 
• Preventing labor exploitation and human trafficking: The final rule clarifies that employers are prohibited from holding or confiscating a worker’s passport, visa or other identification documents, which is a tactic used to exploit workers. 
• Ensuring employer accountability: The final rule updates procedures for discontinuing employment services for employers that have failed to meet the Department of Labor’s requirements. Relatedly, the rule requires states to discontinue services to debarred employers. It also streamlines the procedures for applying debarment to a successor who carries forward a debarred company. In addition, the rule codifies how the department determines whether separate entities are acting as one employer for purposes of assessing seasonal or temporary need and how these entities are treated for enforcement purposes. 

The final rule is effective on June 28, 2024. However, H-2A applications filed before Aug. 28, 2024, will be processed according to applicable federal regulations as is in effect as of June 27, 2024. Applications submitted on or after Aug. 29, 2024, will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Farmworker Protection Rule.

For more information about the rule, visit the Employment and Training Administration and Wage and Hour Division web pages.

SACRAMENTO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $245,722 in back wages and damages for 10 cooks after investigators found the owner and operator of four northern California restaurants denied them required overtime and minimum wages knowingly. 

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined The Pho restaurants and principal owner Thuan Do understood federal wage regulations but chose to pay the affected employees a flat salary for all hours and violated minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division also learned the employer fabricated payroll records and reported fewer hours for the workers to create the appearance of compliance.

The investigation at two locations in Modesto and one each in Stockton and Manteca found the employer owed the affected workers $122,861 in unpaid overtime and minimum wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. In addition to the wage and damage recovery, the department assessed $8,330 in civil money penalties for the employer’s willful violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to holding employers accountable, especially when they deny employees all of their hard-earned wages deliberately,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Cesar Avila in Sacramento. “The Pho and its owner have learned that there are costly consequences for violating federal wage regulations. We urge employers unsure of their obligations to contact us for assistance to avoid compliance issues.” 

Since fiscal year 2020, the division’s Sacramento District Office has recovered more than $2 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 469 workers in the food service industry and assessed $215,081 in penalties to employers.

Workers can use the Wage and Hour Division’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to check if they are owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can contact the division confidentially for help at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including the agency’s restaurant compliance assistance toolkit and an overview of FLSA protections for restaurant workers. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced its Wage and Hour Division will offer contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders opportunities in May or August to attend an online seminar on meeting federal requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

Part of the continuing effort by the division to increase awareness and improve compliance, the day-long seminars will offer sessions on the labor standards protections in the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act, including how the department sets and administers prevailing wages and other topics. Participants can choose from several sessions to get the information they need. 

“Prevailing wage laws empower workers by ensuring that federally funded construction and service jobs are good jobs with fair wages and benefits,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Biden-Harris administration’s historic investments in our nation’s infrastructure means a significant increase in the number of federal and federally funded projects, and the Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring stakeholders understand the labor standards protections critical to these investments.”

Seminars will be held online on May 15 and Aug. 29 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT. The seminars are free to attend but registration is required. Additional information and links to the online seminars will be sent to registered participants. Sign up to receive event updates. 

Learn more about the requirements for federal contractors.

Employer name:                    Paredes Inc., operating as Superior Service

Investigation sites:               75 Garrett Trail 

                                                         Maxwell, TX 78656

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Paredes Inc. – a mobile home transportation company operating as Superior Service – misclassified 32 laborers and drivers as independent contractors when, in fact, the division determined they are employees. Drivers moved mobile homes from the local pickup location to locations in Texas, while the laborers took care of all electrical, foundation, plumbing and other requirements to complete mobile home installations. Investigators found Paredes violated federal law by failing to pay the required time and one-half its employees’ hourly wages for hours over 40 per workweek, and by not keeping federally required records.

In January 2024, the department published a final rule, effective March 11, revising the department’s guidance on how to determine who is an employee and who is an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Learn more about the final rule.

Back wages recovered: $84,740 in owed wages.                                       

Quote: “Misclassifying employees as independent contractors deprives workers of their full wages, benefits and employment protections and allows their employers to gain an unfair advantage over law-abiding competitors,” said Acting District Director Rosalinda Huffman in Austin, Texas. “Employers who wrongly believe they can abuse employees’ rights to be paid all of their hard-earned wages will find the consequences for violating the law can be costly.”

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MANCHESTER, NH – A Vermont restaurant server will receive $50,000 in punitive damages and $829 in back pay, after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found the employer retaliated against them by terminating their employment for refusing to share tips with a manager.

The division found Trareeba Ltd., doing business as Colatina Exit in Bradford, Vermont, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by unlawfully including managers in its tip pool, which invalidated the employer’s tip credit, and also failed to pay workers time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. 

The division also determined the restaurant employed two 17-year-old delivery drivers to make time-sensitive deliveries, a violation of federal child labor regulations. 

In an administrative settlement with the division, Colatina Exit paid $119,605 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 43 employees affected by the tip and overtime violations. The employer has paid the department $28,132 in civil money penalties for its child labor violations and $3,393 in penalties for the tip violations. 

“Colatina Exit’s illegal employment practices hurt workers and undercut law-abiding employers who treat their employees fairly. The law requires that tips go to employees, not their manager,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“The Wage and Hour Division does not tolerate retaliation against employees who exercise their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act and we will take all necessary action to protect workers and ensure they receive the wages they are owed,” McKinney emphasized.

The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool. Employers may not require workers to give their tips to the employer, a supervisor or a manager.

Learn more about protections against unlawful retaliation to workers.

The Department of Labor’s YouthRules! initiative promotes positive and safe work experiences for teens by providing information about protections for young workers to youth, parents, employers and educators. Through this initiative, the department and its partners promote developmental work experiences that help prepare young workers to enter the workforce. The Wage and Hour Division has also published Seven Child Labor Best Practices for Employers to help employers comply with the law. Learn more about the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions. 

Workers and employers can contact the division confidentially at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including the agency’s restaurant compliance assistance toolkit, an overview of FLSA protections for restaurant workers and Workers Owed Wages, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers alike can help track their hours worked and pay by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.  

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration today announced a final rule that expands overtime protections for millions of the nation’s lower-paid salaried workers by increasing the salary thresholds required to exempt a salaried bona fide executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements. 

Effective July 1, 2024, the salary threshold will increase to the equivalent of an annual salary of $43,888 and increase to $58,656 on Jan. 1, 2025. The July 1 increase updates the present annual salary threshold of $35,568 based on the methodology used by the prior administration in the 2019 overtime rule update. On Jan. 1, 2025, the rule’s new methodology takes effect, resulting in the additional increase. In addition, the rule will adjust the threshold for highly compensated employees. Starting July 1, 2027, salary thresholds will update every three years, by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels.

“This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time,” said Acting Secretary Julie Su. “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay. That is unacceptable. The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity.”

The department conducted extensive engagement with employers, workers, unions and other stakeholders before issuing its proposed rule in September 2023, and considered more than 33,000 comments in developing its final rule. The updated rule defines and delimits who is a bona fide executive, administrative and professional employee exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime protections. 

“The Department of Labor is ensuring that lower-paid salaried workers receive their hard-earned pay or get much-deserved time back with their families,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “This rule establishes clear, predictable guidance for employers on how to pay employees for overtime hours and provides more economic security to the millions of people working long hours without overtime pay.”

Key provisions of the final rule include the following:

• Expanding overtime protections to lower-paid salaried workers.
• Giving more workers pay or valuable time back with their family: By better identifying which employees are executive, administrative or professional employees who should be overtime exempt, the final rule ensures that those employees who are not exempt receive time-and-a-half pay when working more than 40 hours in a week or gain more time with their families.
• Providing for regular updates to ensure predictability. The rule establishes regular updates to the salary thresholds every three years to reflect changes in earnings. This protects future erosion of overtime protections so that they do not become less effective over time.

The rule’s effective date is July 1, 2024. Learn more about the department’s efforts to restore and extend overtime protections. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court that orders a Virginia concrete contractor to pay nearly $1.2 million in back wages, damages and penalties after its investigation found the employer misclassified 29 employees as independent contractors and failed to pay proper overtime to its employees.

The action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of Village Concrete Inc., a Manassas employer that allegedly misclassified the affected employees as independent contractors. By doing so, the employer failed to pay required overtime rates for hourly, day-rate and salaried workers.

The division also found the company allegedly falsified records to make it appear they had paid workers overtime, wrongly categorized salaried employees as exempt from overtime and denied employees pay for distances traveled related to work. In addition, Village Concrete failed to keep accurate records of the hours employees worked and compensation the company paid them. 

“Misclassification denies employees access to critical benefits and protections, such as overtime, minimum wage, family and medical leave and — in some cases — safe workplaces,” explained Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to make combatting misclassification a priority to protect some of the nation’s most vulnerable workers and their families from the harm it causes.” 

The consent judgment requires the employer to pay 81 employees $563,938 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, bars Village Concrete from future Fair Labor Standards Act violations and affirms civil money penalties of $67,473 the department assessed for the employer’s willful violations. 

“The Solicitor’s Office uses all available tools to address the serious workplace problem of misclassification,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “In this case, Village Concrete even tried to conceal its violations by falsifying records. We will use all legal tools available to us to hold employers accountable for deliberate and inexcusable attempts to obfuscate the facts, including civil monetary penalties.”

Village Concrete Inc. is a contractor serving residential and commercial customers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. It also prohibits the misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions, regardless of their immigration status. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free, available in English and Spanish.

Su v. Village Concrete Commercial Inc., Agostinho Costa