US Department of Labor recovers $118K in tips, overtime wages, damages from Honolulu restaurant operator that shortchanged employees again

News Brief

US Department of Labor recovers $118K in tips, overtime wages, damages from Honolulu restaurant operator that shortchanged employees again

Employer also assessed $5K in penalties for repeated, willful violations

Employer:      Hale Vietnam Inc.

                        1140 12th Ave.

Honolulu, HI 96816                                                                                                     

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the owners of the Vietnamese-cuisine restaurant kept a portion of employees’ tips and failed to pay overtime wages, both violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer paid overtime hours in cash without premium pay and illegally pocketed some of the tips employees earned. The employer also altered time records to conceal the illegal practice. 

This is the second time the division has found violations of federal labor laws by Hale Vietnam. In 2015, the division recovered $10,786 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 17 employees to resolve similar infractions by the employer. 

Back Wages Recovered:       $59,468 in overtime back wages and tips for 14 employees

                                                $59,468 in liquidated damages for 14 employees

Quote: “Tips earned by workers are their property and no one else’s. Federal law forbids employers from pocketing any portion of workers’ tips and from withholding earned overtime pay,” explained Wage and Hour District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “We urge restaurant employers and employees to contact us to discuss any questions about the Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage and tip requirements.”

Additional information: Workers can use the division’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to check to see if they are owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers 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 the agency’s restaurants compliance assistance toolkit and an overview about the 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.  

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 18, 2023
Release Number
23-2628-SAN
Media Contact: Michael Petersen
Media Contact: Jose Carnevali
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US Department of Labor to recover $252K in back wages, damages for 35 workers denied overtime by Holbrook awnings company

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US Department of Labor to recover $252K in back wages, damages for 35 workers denied overtime by Holbrook awnings company

Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc., owner must pay $28K in penalties for willful violations

WESTBURY, NY – A Long Island awnings company and its owner will pay $252,370 in back wages and damages to nearly three dozen workers whose employers intentionally denied them overtime wages over a three-year period, after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

A review by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of pay practices of Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. and owner Murray Braun determined the employers paid 35 employees straight-time rates for all hours worked, including for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employers’ willful effort to avoid paying time and a half for overtime hours deprived the affected workers of $126,185 in back wages. 

Division investigators also learned the employers did not maintain accurate employee pay records and paid employees their regular hourly wage rates in cash.

“Our investigation found that, for three years, Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. and owner, Murray Braun, willfully shortchanged 35 employees of their hard-earned overtime wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, New York. “Federal law protects workers’ rights to be paid fully for all the hours they work. The company and its owner have learned that the consequences for violating these rights are often costly, even more so when we find their violations were intentional.”

To resolve its Fair Labor Standards Act violations, Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. must pay the back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages and $28,245 in civil money penalties assessed for willfully violating federal law. In addition to its financial obligations, the settlement agreement requires the employers to implement certain procedures to ensure their records are complete and accurate including, but not limited to, providing each employee with a printed statement of daily and weekly hours worked and giving the employee an opportunity to review it for at least two years, and to post information on federal wage laws prominently. 

Based in Holbrook, Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. has manufactured, installed and maintained shutters and awnings for customers in Suffolk and Nassau counties since 1979. The company also has locations in West Hempstead and Huntington Station. 

Workers and employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division confidentially at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243). 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 for free in English or Spanish. 

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 18, 2023
Release Number
23-2502-NEW
Media Contact: James C. Lally
Phone Number
Media Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
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Michigan convenience stores’ operator agrees to pay $36K in back wages, damages to 13 workers to resolve US Department of Labor lawsuit

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Michigan convenience stores’ operator agrees to pay $36K in back wages, damages to 13 workers to resolve US Department of Labor lawsuit

Operator was president of Michigan 7-Eleven owners’ group when federal suit was filed

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The owner and operator of four western Michigan convenience stores agreed to pay $36,528 in back wages and damages to 13 workers to resolve a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor after its investigators found the company had inaccurate payroll records, paid employees “off-the-books” and denied them overtime wages when required, all in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

On Dec. 18, U.S. District Court Judge Jane M. Beckering for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids issued a consent judgment and order requiring Ali & Companies LLC and owner, Ali Haider, to pay the monies owed to the workers, employed at two 7-Eleven stores in East Lansing, one in Perry and one in Zeeland. The court order also requires Haider and the company to pay the department $10,491 in civil money penalties for its violations of the FLSA. 

Haider was the Michigan Franchise Owners Association of 7-Eleven’s president when the lawsuit was filed. 

“This case’s quick resolution puts hard-earned wages and damages into the pockets of 13 workers and sends a strong message to business owners that the Department of Labor will not tolerate wage theft and attempts to mask violations of federal wage laws,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Mary O’Rourke in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “Employers have a legal obligation to pay workers all of their earned wages or face potentially costly consequences.”

The court’s actions follow an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found — from at least Nov. 17, 2020 through Nov. 16, 2022 — the Okemos-based company and Haider did not pay workers overtime at time and one half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. Instead, the employers paid some workers off the books, and failed to maintain accurate records of employee hours worked and pay received, all violations of the FLSA.

As part of the judgment, Haider and the company have agreed to future FLSA compliance. They will also provide employees with information on federal wage laws and with accurate pay stubs that show all hours worked, wages paid and withholdings.

Haider solely owned and operated the four 7-Eleven franchises involved in the department’s lawsuit. 7-Eleven Inc. was not sued. 

Founded in 1927, 7-Eleven Inc. is a globally recognized brand in the convenience-retailing industry with more stores than any other retailer in the world with more than 84,000 stores in 20 countries. Wholly owned by Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd., 7-Eleven Inc. is based in Irving, Texas and operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 13,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. 

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 and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – also available in Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

United States Department of Labor v. Ali & Companies LLC, Ali Haider

Case number 1:23-cv-01033

 

Agency
Office of the Solicitor
Date
December 18, 2023
Release Number
23-2518-CHI
Media Contact: Scott Allen
Phone Number
Media Contact: Rhonda Burke
Phone Number
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US Department of Labor recovers $87K for 32 employees denied overtime, misclassified as independent contractors by Atlanta paint services company

News Brief

US Department of Labor recovers $87K for 32 employees denied overtime, misclassified as independent contractors by Atlanta paint services company

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Employer:      

Atlanta United Interiors

265 18th St. NW 

Atlanta, GA 30318 

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division found that Atlanta United Interiors, a painting contractor, misclassified 32 painters as independent contractors and paid the affected employees straight-time rates for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer denied workers their additional half-time rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, an overtime violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act

Back wages recovered: $87,333 in back wages for 32 workers                                           

Quote: “Ensuring proper classification of employees is not just about compliance. Misclassifying workers as independent contractors strips them of their rightful benefits and protections,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven Salazar in Atlanta, Georgia. “Workers are entitled to the full extent of compensation and benefits afforded by law. We urge employers who do not understand the requirements to stay compliant with the laws to reach out to our office for answers.” 

Background: Atlanta United Interiors is a painting service company that launched in 2014 in Georgia. 

In Georgia, there are currently more than 7,000 workers owed more than $2.2 million recovered by the agency. Individuals can use the agency’s workers owed wages search tool to see if they are owed back wages collected by the agency. Workers who feel they may not be getting the wages they earned or are misclassified as independent contractors may contact a Wage and Hour Division representative in their state through a list and interactive online map on the agency’s website.

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243). The division also offers online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act overtime pay requirements. Workers and employers can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android or iOS Timesheet App for free and available in English and Spanish. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 18, 2023
Release Number
23-2477-ATL
Media Contact: Erika Ruthman
Media Contact: Eric R. Lucero
Phone Number
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Department of Labor suit seeks $47K in back wages, damages from Detroit security company again found shortchanging employees

News Brief

Department of Labor suit seeks $47K in back wages, damages from Detroit security company again found shortchanging employees

Employers:    Detroit Body Guards Protection Unit LLC

                        Carla Bland, human resources director

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act complaint filing

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Investigation findings: On Dec. 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint in federal court seeking a total of $47,439 in back wages and liquidated damages for 42 people employed by Detroit Body Guards Protection Unit LLC to provide armed guard services to marijuana dispensaries in metropolitan Detroit area. 

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division alleged the company paid “straight time” for all hours worked, including hours over 40 in a workweek when time and one-half their regular hourly rate-of-pay was required from at least October 2021 through April 2022. The company also treated some guards as exempt from overtime, all of which violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

In its complaint, the department named the company and its human resources director Carla Bland, who is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations. 

Detroit Body Guards currently owes $25,587 in back wages to employees after the division found the employer shortchanged them from Aug. 11, 2019, through Oct. 10, 2021. In that case, Bland signed an agreement with the department to pay the back wages due and to future FLSA compliance. 

Quote: “Complying with federal wage laws in not an option,” said Wage and Hour District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit. “Federal regulations protect every worker’s right to be paid for hours they work and the overtime earned. The Department of Labor is committed to showing Detroit Body Guards Protection Unit LLC and other employers who violate the federal wage laws that they will be held accountable.”

Background: Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – also available in Spanish –to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

United States Department of Labor v. Detroit Body Guards Protection Union LLC, Carla Bland

Civil Action No. 2:23-cv-13175

Agency
Office of the Solicitor
Date
December 14, 2023
Release Number
23-2572-CHI
Media Contact: Scott Allen
Phone Number
Media Contact: Rhonda Burke
Phone Number
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Court orders Haslett healthcare facility owner who allegedly threatened to fire employees for cooperating with investigation to attend anti-retaliation training

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Court orders Haslett healthcare facility owner who allegedly threatened to fire employees for cooperating with investigation to attend anti-retaliation training

Safe Haven Assisted Living of Haslett must also pay $16K in back wages, damages

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A federal court in Michigan has ordered the owner of a Haslett assisted living facility, 

who allegedly threatened to fire three employees after she suspected they cooperated with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, to attend training on federal anti-retaliation regulations and pay back wages and damages.

On Dec. 11, 2023, District Judge Jane M. Beckering of the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division in Grand Rapids, issued the consent judgment and order requiring Safe Haven Assisting Living of Haslett LLC and owner Tamesha Porter to pay $16,500 in back wages and liquidated damages to the three affected former employees.

The action follows a February 2023 lawsuit filed by the department in relation to its Wage and Hour Division’s findings that, after the division reviewed 18 months of Safe Haven’s pay practices, Porter regularly threatened termination and tried to identify employees she believed had cooperated with investigators. After one of the employees resigned, Porter contacted their prospective employer and made claims of the employee’s misconduct at Safe Haven. 

“This case’s resolution restores back wages earned and compensates three workers harassed by Tamesha Porter for exercising their rights to cooperate with federal investigators, a clear violation of the workers’ protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Mary O’Rourke in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

The order also requires Safe Haven Assisted Living to display a fact sheet about the Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti-retaliation provisions and to distribute it to current and future employees. The facility must also provide neutral job references for the former employees.

“Tamesha Porter and Safe Haven Assisting Living of Haslett LLC have been held accountable for trying to threaten and intimidate employees during a U.S. Department of Labor investigation,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago. “We will take all necessary actions to protect the legal rights of workers to their full pay and against retaliatory action.”             

The division’s review of Safe Haven’s payroll records from Aug. 16, 2020, through Dec. 12, 2021, found the company and Porter failed to pay the affected workers for breaks not taken because of work demands. By doing so, the employer violated the FLSA’s overtime provisions.

An earlier, Jan. 17, 2023, consent judgment issued by the federal court in Grand Rapids required Porter and Safe Haven Assisting Living of Haslett LLC to pay $15,238 in back wages and damages to six of the facility’s workers. Porter has made the payments. 

The Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti-retaliation clause forbids any person from terminating or in any other manner discriminating against any employee because of such employee’s protected activities, including filing a complaint or cooperating with a Wage and Hour Division investigation. 

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 and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – free and also available in Spanish - to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Walsh v. Safe Haven Assisted Living of Haslett LLC, Tamesha Porter 

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division

Civil Action No.: 1:23-cv-00136

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 13, 2023
Release Number
23-2579-CHI
Media Contact: Scott Allen
Phone Number
Media Contact: Rhonda Burke
Phone Number
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Federal marshals arrest Long Island grocer who ignored court orders, demands for records in US Department of Labor investigation

News Release

Federal marshals arrest Long Island grocer who ignored court orders, demands for records in US Department of Labor investigation

Owner of Cross Island Fruits withholds information about pay practices

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – The owner of a Lynbrook grocery store believed they could ignore requests from the U.S. Department of Labor and a federal court in New York to cooperate with an investigation of their company’s pay practices. 

When the U.S. Marshals Service arrested and took Joseph Rossi into custody on Dec. 5, 2023, for repeatedly failing to provide information to the department’s Wage and Hour Division as part of a compliance investigation, the owner of Cross Island Fruits found out how wrong this belief was.

“Joseph Rossi now knows that refusing to comply with a federal investigation can have significant consequences, including arrest,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “Rossi’s arrest shows the U.S. Department of Labor is committed to using every available and appropriate legal tool to gather the facts, enforce the law and make sure employers do not hold the law in contempt.”

Although the department issued an administrative subpoena to obtain documents to determine if the pay practices of Rossi’s business complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act,  the employer refused repeatedly to supply the subpoenaed documents. In response, the department’s Office of the Solicitor took the following actions in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York:

“The Wage and Hour Division must have access to an employer’s records to determine if their pay practices and employment operations comply with federal law,” explained Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Mark Watson Jr. in Philadelphia.  “Employers cannot avoid their legal responsibilities by refusing to cooperate with investigators and withholding records they request.”

Cross Island Fruits is a grocery store located at 246 Hempstead Ave. in Lynbrook, New York.

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

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 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 to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

 

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 6, 2023
Release Number
23-781-NEW
Media Contact: James C. Lally
Phone Number
Media Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
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US Department of Labor recovers $266K in tips, damages for 34 employees of New Hampshire restaurant that kept workers’ tips

News Release

US Department of Labor recovers $266K in tips, damages for 34 employees of New Hampshire restaurant that kept workers’ tips

Employer also pays more than $3K in penalties for tip, child labor hours violations

Employer name:                               Chief’s Place Pizza Restaurant Inc. doing business as Chief’s Place

Investigation site:                             348 Village St., Concord, NH 03303

Investigation findings:                      U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the owner of a Concord restaurant kept employees’ earned tips and did not distribute them to the workers, as required by the tips provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Investigators also determined the employer violated child labor regulations by allowing a 14-year-old minor to work after 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1 and more than 3 hours on a school day.

Monies recovered for workers:       $133,075 in tips for 34 employees

                                                            $133,075 in liquidated damages for 34 employees

Civil money penalties:                      $3,395 for the tip and child labor violations

Quote:                                                “The Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits employers from keeping any portion of an employee’s tips for any purpose. Withholding them is illegal and makes it harder for workers and their families to make ends meet,” said Wage and Hour District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Employers can avoid costly violations like those in this case by making sure their pay practices comply with federal law. We encourage them to contact us to discuss questions they may have relative to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s wage and tip-related requirements.”

Additional information:                   Workers can use the division’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to check to see if they are owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers 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 the agency’s restaurants compliance assistance toolkit and an overview about the 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.  

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 5, 2023
Release Number
23-2398-BOS
Media Contact: James C. Lally
Phone Number
Media Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
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Department of Labor finds poultry processor illegally endangered children in dangerous jobs, robbed workers of wages, retaliated by firing workers

News Release

Department of Labor finds poultry processor illegally endangered children in dangerous jobs, robbed workers of wages, retaliated by firing workers

Los Angeles-area plants ordered to pay nearly $3.8M in back wages, damages, penalties

WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Solicitor continue to find serious illegal employment practices in the meat and poultry processing industries, a California poultry processor and supplier to supermarkets and food distributors — including Ralphs, ALDI, Grocery Outlet and SYSCO Corp. — has agreed to pay nearly $3.8 million in back wages, damages and penalties after the department found the company endangered young workers recklessly in Southern California.

Division investigators found that The Exclusive Poultry Inc. and related companies established by owner Tony Bran employed children as young as 14 years old to debone poultry using sharp knives and operate power-driven lifts to move pallets. The children also worked excessive hours in violation of federal child labor regulations. The company also retaliated against employees for cooperating with investigators by cutting their wages.

Bran and The Exclusive Poultry are subject to a consent judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Nov. 16, 2023, after an investigation and litigation by the department. The investigation included two poultry plants controlled by Bran in City of Industry and La Puente, California.  Investigators found that Bran set up several front companies to employ workers at these plants. Those front companies were Meza Poultry LLC, Valtierra Poultry LLC, Sullon Poultry Inc. and Nollus’s Poultry LLC. The department has also obtained consent judgments against these companies and their owners. 

The judgments resolve the lawsuit filed by the department based on the division’s findings that, in addition to their unlawful employment of children and retaliation against workers, the employers failed to pay workers their required wages.

Specifically, the division determined that Bran, The Exclusive Poultry and their associated companies willfully failed to pay required overtime wages to their employees, paying them either a piece rate or a straight time hourly rate even when they worked 50 or 60 hours per week. Investigators also found the employers failed to maintain required records when they intentionally omitted workers from payroll records.

Upon substantiating the child labor and overtime violations, the department’s Office of the Solicitor obtained from the U.S. District Court a temporary restraining order and an injunction to prevent Bran and The Exclusive Poultry from shipping into commerce any “hot goods,” in this case, poultry produced in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and any goods from a location where the department observed child labor. 

“The department will not hesitate to invoke the hot goods provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act — including perishable goods — to combat the scourges of wage theft and child labor in our economy,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “Employers who violate the FLSA and their downstream distributors and customers should be on notice that we will use all tools at our disposal to protect workers, regardless of age and immigration status. We encourage workers to come forward and report employers that withhold workers’ wages or put their safety at risk.” 

As directed by the consent judgment, Bran and The Exclusive Poultry must pay $3.5 million in back wages and damages to affected workers. Of that total, $300,000 in punitive damages and $100,614 in back wages will be paid to workers who faced retaliatory conduct. In addition, the employers must pay $201,104 in civil money penalties assessed by the division for the child labor and willful violations.

The judgment also requires Bran and The Exclusive Poultry to retain a monitor for three years to ensure future compliance and to show a hiring preference for those workers they fired following the department’s search of the poultry plants. Under that preference, Bran and The Exclusive Poultry must offer these workers employment first before hiring others. 

“The Exclusive Poultry and owner Tony Bran willfully withheld workers’ hard-earned wages, endangered young workers and retaliated against employees to conceal their wrongdoing,” explained Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to work at every level of the industry to prevent employers or retailers from exploiting workers, including children, for profit.”

The Exclusive Poultry supplies poultry products to distributors who sell chicken products to, among others, Grocery Outlet, SYSCO Corp., ALDI, Nestle Purina, Royal Canin U.S.A. Inc. and Ralphs Grocery Company, a subsidiary of The Kroger Company. 

Downstream distributors and customers such as these can take steps to clean up the industry and protect themselves from potential liability by requiring written assurance from producers, manufacturers and other dealers that the goods being produced and purchased by them have been made in compliance with the requirements of the FLSA.

The division’s West Covina District Office conducted the investigation and the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Los Angeles filed the complaint and secured the consent judgments. In conducting the enforcement action, the department worked with the Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs and its community partners, who provided support services to workers, and with the U.S. Marshals, who assisted with the execution of a search warrant at the two poultry processing plants.

The department is seeking any current or former employees of The Exclusive Poultry, Meza Poultry, Valtierra Poultry, Sullon Poultry or Nollus’s Poultry who believe they may be owed back wages. These employees should contact the West Covina District Office at (626) 966-0478.

The consent judgment is part of the department’s ongoing effort to combat child labor abuses and wage theft in the poultry and meat processing industries. The action follows the division’s investigation of Packers Sanitation Services Inc. and its assessment of $1.5 million in penalties for child labor violations in February 2023. In that case, investigators discovered that the company employed at least 102 children – from 13 to 17 years of age – in dangerous occupations and had them working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states. 

In March 2023, the department recovered $353,141 in back wages for 322 workers in Alabama and North Carolina who were denied overtime wages. Between 2020 and 2023, the department obtained judgments against three La Puente poultry processing companies requiring them to pay more than $1.2 million for denying overtime wages to 113 workers deliberately and using intimidation to hide their wage thefts. Investigators are also probing into the death of a 16-year-old worker at a Mississippi poultry plant

Child labor laws exist to safeguard young workers from workplace exploitation and prevent avoidable tragedies. The U.S. Department of Labor and its partners from the Interagency Task Force to Combat Child Labor Exploitation remain committed to holding companies accountable for violating federal child labor laws.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division. Workers can call the division confidentially with questions or concerns – regardless of where they are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.

Lea en Español 

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
December 4, 2023
Release Number
23-2500-NAT
Media Contact: Michael Petersen
Media Contact: Jose Carnevali
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Federal court orders Detroit business owner imprisoned until she complies with US Department of Labor subpoena to provide documents

News Release

Federal court orders Detroit business owner imprisoned until she complies with US Department of Labor subpoena to provide documents

Rosie Guthrie, Genesis Homecare Services’ owner, defies contempt order, fails to cooperate

DETROIT, MI – A federal court has ordered the owner of a Michigan senior home care services company be imprisoned if she continues to ignore a March 2023 federal court order to provide U.S. Department of Labor investigators with time and pay records, despite being in contempt of court since Sept. 27, 2023, and assessed $250 for each day she refused to comply. 

On Nov. 28, 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman of the Eastern District of Michigan directed the U.S. Marshals Service to arrest Rosie Guthrie, owner of Genesis Homecare Services, and that she be held until the requested records are provided. 

The action is the latest step in litigation filed by the department in federal court in November 2022 after Guthrie refused to comply repeatedly with the department’s Wage and Hour Division requests for documents needed for an investigation opened in 2022. The court ordered Guthrie and Genesis Homecare Services to comply with the department’s administrative subpoena on March 15, 2023. 

“The court has upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority to investigate and obtain information about wages, hours and other employment practices and question employees to determine if an employer is complying with federal law. The court has ordered Rosie Guthrie confined until she complies with the court’s orders and produces the documents that will allow the department to complete its compliance review,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri in Chicago. “Complying with administrative subpoenas issued by the department is not optional, and the department will pursue all avenues to enforce the law.”

The arrest warrant issued by the court orders Guthrie be held until she cooperates.

“The opening of a Wage and Hour Division investigation does not mean we will find violations. By refusing to cooperate, Rosie Guthrie now faces imprisonment,” said Regional Wage and Hour Administrator Michael Lazzeri in Chicago. “Our investigation of Genesis Homecare Services is part of our broader focus on the home care staffing industry — one in which we often identify violations — to protect the rights of women and people in marginalized communities employed in the industry who depend on every dollar they earn.”

In 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered $14.9 million in back wages for healthcare employees nationwide. As the aging U.S. population grows, employment in healthcare support occupations is projected to grow 15 percent from 2022 to 2032 – faster than the average for all occupations. 

Genesis Homecare Services provides home care staffing needs to assist seniors and others with limited mobility to live independently in their homes by providing home care services. The company serves the greater Detroit area including Wayne, Lower Oakland, Macomb and Montgomery counties.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

Su v. Rosie Guthrie, Genesis Homecare Services LLC

Case No. 2:22-mc-51667-MFL-APP

 

Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Date
November 28, 2023
Release Number
23-2307-CHI
Media Contact: Scott Allen
Phone Number
Media Contact: Rhonda Burke
Phone Number
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