Employer: C&C Security Inc., doing business as Cast and Crew Security

Site: 438 Hobron Lane #117, Honolulu, HI 96815

Investigation findings: Investigators from U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that C&C Security failed to pay security guards for television and film productions such as “Predator,” “Soul Surfer,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “The Descendants” legally required overtime in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the firm did not pay their guards time-and-a-half their regular rates of pay for all of their hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. The employer also paid a number of guards on a salary basis and incorrectly considered them “exempt” from overtime requirements.

Resolution: Under the terms of a consent judgment filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, C&C Security Inc., its president Richard A. Groder Jr., and manager Kelii C. Correa will pay $57,785 in unpaid overtime wages plus an additional and equal amount in liquidated damage, totaling  $115,570 to 65 employees.

Quote: “Violations are particularly troublesome in situations like this, where low wage workers are denied access to all of their lawfully entitled earnings which must cover the essential expenses of living in Hawaii,” said Terence Trotter, director of the division’s Honolulu District Office. “Just as there are standards for quality in the production of movies and television shows, there are also baseline wage standards for contracted workers who provide protective services at set locations.”

Information: Simply paying an employee a salary does not necessarily mean the employee is not eligible for overtime.  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. Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee's specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the department's regulations.  On June 30, 2015, the Wage and Hour Division announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the regulations defining which white collar workers are eligible to receive pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, as well as time and one-half their regular rates for every hour they work beyond 40 per week. The law also requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment, and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who exercise their rights under the law.  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), or the Honolulu office at 808-541-1361. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

Employers: Alfonso’s Carniceria, Inc., doing business as Alfonso’s Meat Market

Site: 2756 Whitson St., Selma, California

Investigation findings:  Instead of paying overtime at time-and-a-half workers’ regular rates of pay, as the law requires, the employer paid for overtime hours at straight-time rates, in cash, off the books, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also failed to pay cashiers, prep cooks and the butcher’s assistant for all the hours that they worked. In addition, the company paid two butchers flat salaries, without regard to how many hours they worked. This resulted in the employer failing to pay these workers overtime for hours they worked beyond 40 in a week. The firm also failed to maintain records required by the FLSA.

Resolution: The market owner will pay $74,862 in back wages and an equal additional amount in liquidated damages totaling $149,724 to eight employees.

Quote: “Thanks to this investigation, these eight workers will finally receive the wages they worked long hours to earn,” said Rick Newton, director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Sacramento. “We continue our focus on industries where these types of violations are common, and where vulnerable workers may be unlikely to step forward to complain. The settlement reached in this case demonstrates how costly non-compliance can be for an employer, and sends a strong message to other employers who may be paying workers in this manner.”

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/.

FLSA: 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 Españól.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has launched an education and enforcement initiative on the West Coast and in surrounding areas aimed at ensuring workers at fast food establishments are being paid the proper minimum wage and overtime.

Investigations completed in the last five quarters nationwide have resulted in fast food employers paying more than $6.7 million in back wages owed to nearly 18,000 employees.

Investigators will continue to look at establishments in California, Oregon and Washington, ensuring compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage and recordkeeping practices. In addition to conducting investigations, Wage and Hour officials are organizing roundtable meetings with local industry stakeholders, holding training sessions with groups of restaurant franchise owners on FLSA compliance, and meeting one-on-one with various franchisors. The fast food industry widely uses the franchise ownership model in its operations. 

“The men and women cooking and serving our burgers and fries are some of the hardest working people in our communities, often juggling long shifts and multiple jobs for comparatively low wages. We want to make sure they’re being paid every penny they rightfully earn,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Ruben Rosalez. “Unfortunately, we still find business owners willing to cut corners at workers’ expense. This initiative will ensure that these workers are paid their hard-earned wages. It will also help to level the playing field so that the many upstanding restaurant owners who play by the rules do not find themselves at a competitive disadvantage to those who do not. ”

Investigators will continue to look for common the fast food restaurant industry violations, including:

• Failure to pay workers for all hours worked, typically time spent either before or after a scheduled shift.
• Deductions from pay that result in minimum wage  and overtime violations.
• Unlawfully categorizing some salaried workers as exempt from overtime.
• Requiring minors to work in jobs or at times prohibited by child labor laws.
• Misclassifying  delivery drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees, and as a result denying them minimum wage and overtime.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt workers be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus one and one-half times their regular wages 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 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 Españól.

SEATTLE – After years of denial, obstructions and legal battles, a group of Washington State blueberry growers admitted that they systematically violated the rights of their agricultural workers, including failing to pay the minimum wage and overtime pay, in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 growing seasons.

Two-and-a-half years after the U.S. Department of Labor filed suit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington entered a consent judgment in favor of the Secretary on all counts, requiring the growers to pay a total of $385,318 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages to pickers and packing shed workers. A department Wage and Hour Division investigation found the growers, including Blue Mountain Farms, deprived workers of minimum wage and overtime pay, violations of both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant Seasonal Worker Protection Act. The growers must also pay $20,000 in civil monetary penalties to the federal government. 

In 2013, investigators discovered the growers were paying hundreds of “shadow” workers off the books in Walla Walla County fields: workers had no tickets to track how much they had picked, and they received no paychecks. Many workers who did appear on the company’s records were systematically denied overtime pay despite working long and regular overtime hours.

The growers first tried to deny access to their fields when agency officials started their 2013 investigation. The department obtained a court order to force Blue Mountain to give investigators immediate access and to cease interfering with the investigation. At the investigation’s conclusion, Wage and Hour Division officials advised the growers they found sweeping violations of federal law. Despite the evidence, the growers denied violations had occurred, refused to correct their practices or to pay workers the full wages they earned.

In the consent judgment approved by the court today, the growers admit that they violated federal law in all of the ways that the division found nearly three years ago. Specifically, the growers admit that:

• They used a system in which multiple workers were picking berries on a single ticket, making it appear that the berries “counted as having been harvested by one person.” The growers had no records of the hours worked or wages paid to employees working on shared picking tickets.
• The employer did not pay the promised wage, which was the Washington state minimum wage, to some of their workforce.
• Growers did not pay their workers laboring in the packing shed the legally required overtime premium of time-and-a-half despite the long hours worked. 
• Blue Mountain “unlawfully impeded officials of the U.S. Department of Labor by denying them access to their fields where employees were harvesting berries for the growers.

In addition to paying back wages and penalties, the growers are required to participate in wage and hour training, inform all employees of their rights under federal law and properly record all employees’ hours throughout each shift.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that the rights of all workers are protected, and when necessary will ask the courts to enforce the law to end exploitation of vulnerable workers, including agricultural workers,” said Janet Herold, the department’s Regional Solicitor. 

“We are pleased that Blue Mountain finally admitted their systemic violations of federal law and have agreed to ensure that their hard-working harvest workers are no longer exploited by working them off the books, in the shadows. The department will continue to ensure that agriculture workers’ rights are protected,” said Ruben Rosalez, Regional Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division.   

Enforced by the division, the FLSA requires employers to pay covered, nonexempt workers at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus one-and-one-half times their regular wages for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also must maintain accurate time and payroll records.

The MSPA protects migrant and seasonal agricultural workers by establishing employment standards related to wages, housing, transportation, disclosures and recordkeeping. The act also requires farm labor contractors to register with the U.S. Department of Labor.

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 en Españól.

Employer: PR Drywall LLC

Site: 2730 SE 39th Loop Suite E, Hillsboro, Oregon

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found PR Drywall in violation of the overtime, recordkeeping, and prevailing wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. The company paid drywall finishers well below the prevailing wage rates required for federal contracts, and employees worked beyond 40 hours in a week without receiving time-and-one-half per hour wages. 

Resolution: PR Drywall agreed to comply with the FLSA and DBRA, and paid $98,000 in back wages to seven employees. See investigation details in press release issued last March.

The division is now working to debar PR Drywall LLC from future federal government contracts as violations of the Davis-Bacon contract clauses may be grounds for contract termination, contractor liability for any resulting costs to the government and debarment from future contracts for a period up to three years. Officials filed a lawsuit with the Office of Administrative Law Judges on Jan. 5, 2016, to initiate debarment litigation to prevent PR Drywall from obtaining future contracts funded by taxpayers.

Quote: “No business should gain an economic advantage by paying workers below the required wages and fringe benefits on a prevailing wage project,” said Thomas Silva, the division’s district director in Portland. “The public has the right to expect federal contractors will comply with the law. It’s our responsibility to ensure that contractors who violate that trust are denied future contracts with the government.” 

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: Escalera Landscaping Inc.

Site: 5012 Arville Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89118

Investigation findings: Investigators from the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Escalera Landscaping violated the overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The firm improperly considered working foremen to be exempt from overtime, and paid them flat weekly salaries without regard to how many hours they had actually worked. These employees  routinely worked  up to 54 hours per week, yet the employer failed to keep an accurate record of hours worked  and failed to pay them overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek

Resolution: Escalera Landscaping will pay $59,527 in overtime back wages and an additional, equal amount in liquidated damages for a total of $119,054 to 10 employees.

Quote: “Failure to pay legally-required wages hurts not only workers and their families, but leads to unfair competition because businesses that play by the rules operate at a disadvantage to those that do not,” said Gene Ramos, assistant district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Las Vegas. “This investigation should send a clear message to other employers to evaluate their pay practices and to ensure that they are in compliance with federal labor laws.  Our division is committed to ensuring that workers receive every penny they have rightfully earned.”

Information: Simply paying an employee a salary does not necessarily mean the employee is not eligible for overtime. 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. Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee's specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the department's regulations.  On June 30, 2015, the Wage and Hour Division announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the regulations defining which white collar workers are eligible to receive pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015.

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 Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), or the Las Vegas office at 702-388-6001. Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd. 

Read this news brief in Españól.

LOS ANGELES – While Southern California Sushi chefs worked up to 90 hours a week painstakingly assembling intricately crafted Godzilla rolls, sashimi assortments and other delicacies at various restaurants, the U.S. Department of Labor found their employer was cheating the chefs and other workers out of overtime pay, shaving hours off timecards and docking their pay routinely for 10-minute breaks.

Gatten Sushi, USA, Inc. and GTN Inc., based in Cerritos, have agreed to pay $232,293 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $464,586 to 369 employees following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division. The investigation uncovered widespread violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The employer has also paid $156,640 in civil penalties as a result.

“Unfortunately, the wage, overtime and record-keeping violations found at this employer’s establishments are all too common in the restaurant industry,” said Ruben Rosalez, the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrator in San Francisco. “This employer’s failure to pay legally earned wages hurts the workers, their families and restaurant owners who play by the rules. This investigation and its outcome should send a strong message to others who may be cheating workers.

“The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers who are not paid the wages they legally earned, or not paid for all the hours they worked, to contact us,” Rosalez said. “Complaints are kept confidential, and the name of the person who filed and the nature of the complaint also remain confidential.”

Gatten operates owns sushi restaurants under Gatten Sushi name in Los Angeles (now closed), Cerritos, West Covina, Rowland Heights (now closed), Monterey Park, Irvine, Fullerton (now closed), Granada Hills and Gardena. GTN Inc., a sister company, owns and operates Yushoken Ramen restaurants in Arcadia and Irvine. The sushi and ramen restaurants were both part of the Labor Department investigation.

In addition to sushi chefs, servers and kitchen staff will also collect back wages as part of the settlement. Some of the sushi chefs reported having worked more than 90 hours per week without overtime.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, requires that covered, nonexempt workers be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus one and one-half times their regular wages for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also must maintain accurate time and payroll records.  Employers are prohibited from retaliating against workers who exercise their rights under the law.

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).  Wage and Hour’s services are free and confidential.  Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.

ATLANTA – Hotel industry workers typically earn low wages and may struggle financially to meet basic needs. When employers fail to pay them the wages they have legally earned, their struggle gets even harder.

To ensure these employees receive the hard-earned wages, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting an ongoing education and enforcement initiative focusing on Georgia’s hotels and motels. The hotel industry often uses employment arrangements – such as subcontracting, franchising, and third-party management – that can obscure the worker-employer relationship, often at the expense of workers’ wages which may make violations of the minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act more likely. In fiscal years 2014 and 2015, the division’s Atlanta District Office completed more than 140 investigations in this sector, finding more than $283,000 in back wages due to more than 400 workers. The department also assessed more than $27,000 in civil money penalties against the employers for repeat or willful violations of the FLSA.

“This industry employs some of the most vulnerable workers we see,” said Eric Williams, director of the division’s Atlanta District Office. “Our initiative works to ensure that Georgia’s workers are protected against exploitation and that law-abiding hotel employers aren’t placed at a disadvantage for playing by the rules and paying fair wages. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to make sure that happens.”

Pay practices commonly used by employers in this industry that can lead to violations of the FLSA are described in the department’s fact sheet on the hotel and motel industry.

In an education and enforcement initiative, the division reaches out to employers and industry stakeholders to offer compliance assistance and information on legal responsibilities. The division raises awareness among workers, community organizations and other stakeholders to inform them of federal wage and hour laws and protections and to encourage participation in promoting industry-wide compliance.

The misclassification of employees as independent contractors presents a serious problem for affected employees, employers and the entire economy. Misclassified employees often are denied access to critical benefits and protections – such as family and medical leave, overtime, minimum wage and unemployment insurance – to which they are entitled. Employee misclassification generates substantial losses to the U.S. Treasury and the Social Security and Medicare funds, as well as to state unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation funds. Misclassification also creates a competitive disadvantage for employers who comply with the law.

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 of pay for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also are required to maintain accurate time and payroll records and to comply with the hours worked requirements. For more information about the FLSA and wage laws or to file a complaint, call the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), the Atlanta District Office at 678-237-0521, or visit http://www.dol.gov/whd. 

Employer: Chloe Apparel, Inc.

Site: 1143 East 29^th St., Los Angeles, California

Investigation findings: The employer paid straight time for overtime hours worked after 40 hours in a work week. The employer also failed to pay the proper minimum wage to a subset of workers. Both sets of violations fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Resolution: The employer agreed to pay $164,255 to 142 employees for overtime violations, and an additional $9,488 to 42 employees for minimum wage violations.

Quote: “It is the obligation of all employers to accurately pay overtime wages at time-and-one-half after 40 hours in a week, regardless if the employee is paid on a piece-rate, day-rate, or on a salary basis,” said Skarleth Kozlo, assistant director for the Wage and Hour Division’s office in West Covina. “Given the garment industry’s poor compliance history – especially in Southern California – the Wage and Hour Division makes it a priority to investigate garment wage practices to verify compliance with federal laws.” 

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.

CHICAGO – A federal judge has ordered a Chicago limo company to pay 34 drivers $190,716 in back wages and an equal additional amount in liquidated damages, totaling $381,432, after finding the company violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Town & Country Limousine Inc. incorrectly categorized the drivers as exempt from overtime under the motor carrier exemption. While some drivers met the requirements for the exemption in some workweeks, most were legally entitled to time-and-a-half for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.

The investigation found that the company did not compensate drivers for time spent prepping and cleaning their vehicles, driving to and from the corporate garage and waiting for their customers to arrive. When these unpaid hours resulted in drivers working beyond 40 hours, overtime was legally due. The employer also failed to record and maintain legally mandated time and payroll records.

“This judgment is a win for these drivers who worked long hours without legally required overtime compensation. All employers are responsible for learning and complying with the regulations that apply to their businesses. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for violations,” said Tom Gauza, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Chicago. “Other employers in this industry should take note of this investigation, and other workers who are being paid in this manner should give the Wage and Hour Division a call.  We are committed to ensuring that workers are paid every penny they have rightfully earned.”

The judgment resolves a lawsuit filed in March of 2015, and in addition to ordering the payment of back wages and damages, the judge permanently enjoined the company, John Jansen, the chief executive officer and William Lynch, the chief operating officer, from violating the FLSA in the future.

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.                                          

Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Chicago

Civil Action Number: 15-cv-02010, Perez v. DT & C Global Management LLC d/b/a/ Town & Country Limousine, John Jansen, William Lynch