Read this news release En Español. 

Employer:                              Boatwright Farms LLC

                                                2683 County Road 42

                                                Steele, AL 35987                         

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that a Steele agriculture employer underpaid 106 U.S. workers, giving them a lower rate of pay than legally required, among other violations. The agency found that Boatwright Farms LLC recruited and hired H-2A workers to plant, grow, harvest and prepare tomatoes for shipping. The employer violated regulations of the H-2A program by paying U.S. workers in corresponding jobs a lower hourly rate than offered to H-2A workers. The employer also failed to satisfy the job order’s requirements by not stating actual terms and conditions and did not give workers their wage and hours statements. Additionally, the employer violated the Migrant and Seasonal Workers Protection Act.

Back wages recovered: The division recovered $8,862 in back wages for 106 workers.

Civil money penalties assessed: The division assessed $9,970 in civil money penalties to the employer. 

Quote: “In order to participate in the H-2A program, agricultural employers are required to pay U.S. workers no less than corresponding H-2A workers,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “Our investigation found that this employer failed to adhere to legal standards when employing workers – including failing to tell them the job requirements and location and failing to give them wage stubs and correct pay. Our agency has multiple resources available to help employers understand their obligations under the law.”

Background: The H-2A program enables agricultural employers to hire temporary non-immigrant workers to meet business demands while protecting U.S. workers. The division offers farmworker rights information, compliance assistance resources for employers and an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit to ensure compliance with the law.

Employees and employers can also contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – 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 search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS timesheet app – now available in Spanish – for free. 

BOSTON – A restaurant in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood has paid a total of $320,000 in back wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages to 59 current and former employees to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

The division’s investigation of SOJUba, located at 1265 Boylston St., found the restaurant failed to inform some workers of their cash wage and tip credit, as the FLSA requires. Further, some ineligible workers were included in the tip pool, resulting in other workers not being paid all the tips they had earned. Certain workers were denied the federal minimum wage as a result of the invalidation of the restaurant’s ability to take a tip credit. 

The FLSA permits an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage and overtime obligations for tipped employees if it ensures that the employees receive enough tips from customers and cash wages per workweek to equal at least the minimum wage and overtime compensation required under the FLSA. 

Investigators also found that SOJUba did not pay at least the minimum wage to front-of-the-house workers for every hour worked, pay employees proper overtime wages for all hours worked over 40 in a work week or maintain accurate payroll records. During the division’s investigation, the business told workers what to say to investigators, in violation of the FLSA’s anti-retaliation provision.

The investigation has resulted in SOJUba paying the affected workers $147,500 in back wages and $147,500 in liquidated damages, plus $25,000 in punitive damages for the retaliation. The back wages cover between Aug. 17, 2019 and Aug. 13, 2022. SOJUba has also paid $40,000 in civil money penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor because of the wage violations’ willful nature.

“The Fair Labor Standards Act clearly spells out an employer’s responsibilities to pay proper minimum wage and overtime rates to employees and forbids employers from attempting to coerce workers or tell them to not participate in a Wage and Hour Division investigation,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Carlos Matos in Boston. “When employers deliberately attempt to ignore the law’s requirements, the U.S. Department of Labor will actively pursue damages and penalties in addition to recouping back wages for employees hurt by such behavior.”

Learn more about how the Wage and Hour Division protects workers against retaliation. 

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 immigration status. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices in English or Spanish to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Participants:                          U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division

                                                Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Partnership description:      A Memorandum of Understanding between the Wage and Hour Division and the commonwealth’s Office of the Comptroller continues their collaborative partnership to communicate and cooperate, effectively and efficiently, on areas of common interest to promote compliance with U.S. and the commonwealth’s laws of common concern among the regulated community in Puerto Rico. Activities include sharing jurisdictional information on topics related to both agencies, providing proper support in referrals and conducting joint investigations and cross training of both agencies’ personnel.          

View the agreement between the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Quote:                                     “This agreement continues the mutual efforts of the Wage and Hour Division and the Office of the Comptroller to educate workers and employers and ensure adherence to federal and territorial laws in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” said Wage and Hour Division Director José R. Vázquez in Guaynabo.

Duration:                               The agreement is effective until Nov. 23, 2028.

Background:                          The Wage and Hour Division enforces the federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act as well as the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Davis Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes.                            

The Office of the Comptroller has the ministerial duty to audit all revenues, accounts, and disbursements of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and instrumentalities and its municipalities, to determine whether they have been made in accordance with commonwealth law. 

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, or call the Caribbean District Office at 787-775-1947. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions regardless of where they are from. The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices — also available in Spanish — to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

This press release is also available in Spanish.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division          

What:             Labor law webinar for Hospitality Worker Appreciation Day 

When:             Feb. 22, 2024, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST   

Where:           Online webinar. The event is free, but registration is required. 

Background: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division – in coordination with the Women’s Bureau, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Agency and the Office of Foreign Labor Certification – will mark Hospitality Worker Appreciation Day by offering a webinar on federal regulations governing workers’ wages and benefits and employers’ responsibilities in hotels, motels, restaurants and staffing agencies in the Southeast. 

This multi-agency event will provide information on the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions as well as requirements under H-2B visa program. The webinar will also cover the employment relationship as it applies to staffing agencies and clients. Participants will also receive compliance information relevant to laws enforced by the EEOC and OSHA. In fiscal year 2023, the Wage and Hour Division identified violations in 92 percent of more than 1,500 investigations in the hospitality industry and recovered more than $9.3 million in back wages for more than 8,900 workers. The agency also assessed more than $1.3 million in civil money penalties to employers found in violation of the law. 

Quote: “Hospitality workers provide critical labor that allows industry employers to be profitable and enables guests to enjoy their accommodations,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “We’ve designed this webinar to meet the hospitality industry’s unique needs in the hope that we can educate employers – including staffing agencies – on their legal responsibilities and help workers understand how we safeguard their wages and benefits.”

Employer name:  Ole Jose Grill & Cantina LLC, operating as Ole, Jose Grill & Cantina

Employer address: 564 River Drive Ave., Pineville, West Virginia 24784

Investigation findings:  Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act when the employer improperly paid tipped employees time and one-half their cash wage for hours over 40 in a workweek – instead of time and one-half the applicable minimum wage.  Additionally, the employer misclassified one tipped employee as an independent contractor, paid kitchen staff a flat rate for all hours worked with no overtime premium paid and failed to keep hours worked records for the back of house kitchen employees.

Back wages recovered: $83,632 to 17 employees

Liquidated damages paid: $83,632

Quote: “Many restaurant workers struggle to make ends meet and they deserve to be paid for all hours worked. Employers who shortchange their employees will be held accountable,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). 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.

HOUSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $460,857 in back wages and damages after federal investigators found a Houston supermarket failed to pay 104 workers overtime wages.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Y. S. Lee Company Inc. – operating as Guanajuato Supermarket – paid its employees straight time rates instead of time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found the supermarket, which includes a restaurant, meat market and bread store, also failed to keep accurate pay records as required by federal law. 

“Employers have a legal obligation to pay workers correctly for all the hours they work, including time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. When they fail to do so, they violate the law and face having to pay back wages and liquidated damages to their employees,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicole Sellers in Houston. “We are committed to ensuring essential protections for workers and providing clear and confidential compliance assistance to any employee or employer with questions.”

The Wage and Hour Division enforces laws governing pay practices and other labor standards, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, and determines if employers have misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them critical benefits and worker protections. 

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). The division protects workers regardless of immigration status and can communicate with workers 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.

Lea en Español  

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division will offer online seminars throughout 2024 for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders on the requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

Part of the division’s effort to increase awareness and improve compliance, each day-long seminar will include sessions on the Davis-Bacon Act, Service Contract Act and other related topics. Participants can choose among the sessions offered throughout the day. 

The seminars are scheduled for Feb. 27, May 15 and Aug. 29. Any updates will be posted on the prevailing wage seminar webpage, which includes a video library covering additional topics.

“Prevailing wage laws empower workers by ensuring that construction and service jobs on federally funded projects across the country 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 provide the Wage and Hour Division an opportunity to educate employers as they compete for new federal contract opportunities that put skilled employees to work in communities across America.” 

While seminar attendance is free, registration is required. Additional information, including links to the sessions for each date, will be provided to participants after registration. 

MANTECA, CA – A restaurant in California will pay $824,405 in back wages and liquidated damages to 102 workers after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found the company’s pay practices denied employees overtime pay for the hours they worked beyond 40 per week, as the law requires.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Juan Francisco Fonseca – owner of a restaurant company operating under different corporations as La Estrella Tacos & Seafood at four locations in Manteca, California – in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for not paying required overtime rates and failing to maintain accurate and complete payroll records.

Division investigators found the employer tried to avoid paying overtime by creating different corporations and not combining the hours worked at multiple locations for purposes of overtime pay calculations. Some employees who worked up to 26 overtime hours per week were paid at their regular rates of pay.

“Restaurants with workers at more than one location cannot simply move employees between establishments in the same workweek to avoid overtime pay,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Cesar Avila in Sacramento, California. “This employer’s costly disregard for their workers’ rights has also resulted in the assessment of civil money penalties.”

In addition to the employer paying $412,202 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in damages, the department assessed $50,320 in civil money penalties due to the willful nature of the violations.

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 the rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. 

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 track hours worked and pay by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.

This news release is also available in Spanish. 

Employer:                              Excelsior Ambulance Service Inc.

                                                173 SE Baya Drive

                                                Lake City, FL 32025

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the ambulance service provider paid workers an incorrect overtime rate, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The agency found that the employer failed to pay the correct overtime rate after the Florida minimum wage rate increased from $10 per hour to $11 per hour on Sept. 30, 2022. Instead, Excelsior Ambulance Service continued paying the lesser wage rate after the change became effective, leading to paying overtime at rates lower than required by law. 

Back wages and liquidated damages recovered: The division recovered $33,319 in back wages and liquidated damages for 28 workers.                           

Quote: “The resolution of this investigation should serve as a reminder to employers to stay current with all changes to regulations that govern employee pay and benefits. Failing to do so can lead to a costly lesson,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Vilma Bell in Orlando, Florida. “Employees deserve to take home every dollar they earn. Employers unsure of their legal obligations under the law should contact their local Wage and Hour Division office for assistance. That’s the best way to ensure they pay employees all their rightful wages and avoid costly compliance issues.”

Background: Excelsior Ambulance Service currently provides ambulance services for the Lake City Veteran Affairs Medical Center and the VA Nursing Home Care Unit in Lake City. Additionally, they serve residents in St. Mary’s, Augusta and Greensboro, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama. The company employs approximately 200 employees across its locations. 

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including its search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App available for free in English or Spanish. 

Employer name:  Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, doing business as Big Bend Golf, doing business as Coonskin Park

Investigation sites: 

375 Henry C Hoppy Shores Drive, Charleston, West Virginia 25302

151 Riverview Drive, Tornado, West Virginia 25202

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer incorrectly determined that seven seasonal employees were exempt from overtime and paid them straight time instead of time and one half for hours worked over 40 in a work week. Additionally, the employer failed to properly compute compensatory time for 17 year-round employees. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages Paid:  $5,234 to nine workers at Big Bend Golf

                                       $8,405 to 15 workers at Coonskin Park

Liquidated damages paid: $13,639 totaling $27,278.

Quote: “We encourage employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division for compliance assistance to ensure full-time and seasonal workers are paid correctly,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). 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.