Read this news release En Español. 

RALEIGH, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor assessed two North Carolina employers $139,039 in penalties after its investigation found they victimized non-immigrant farmworkers by shortchanging 65 workers’ wages, and by trying to intimidate and seizing their passports.

The workers were employed through the federal H-2A program, which enables agricultural employers to hire temporary non-immigrant workers to meet business demands while not adversely affecting wages and working conditions of similarly employed people working in the U.S.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that McClenny Farms Inc. of Mount Olive received a contract to recruit, hire, house and transport H-2A workers to harvest cucumbers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco and watermelons in Wayne County, North Carolina. During its investigations, the agency discovered Francisco Valadez Jr. of Smithfield — debarred for two years by the department in 2020 for violating H-2A regulations — was operating the contract on McClenny Farms’ behalf.

The division determined that McClenny Farms and Valadez were acting as joint employers, sharing responsibility for the violations and the assessed penalties.

“McClenny Farms and Francisco Valadez Jr. took advantage of dozens of workers recruited to do the physically demanding work of picking produce and tobacco on farms in Wayne County,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Our investigations found these employers violated their legal obligations and preyed on people who traveled to the U.S. for better-paying work simply to support themselves and their families back home.”

Specifically, division investigators found the employers violated H-2A regulations by doing the following:

• Not reimbursing workers for visa and application fees, and for inbound transportation expenses to the work site and instead requiring them to sign receipts without receiving pay. 
• Failing to have accurate records, including earnings, hours statements and reasons for pay deductions. 
• Not satisfying the job order’s requirements by failing to state actual terms and conditions, such as establishing a fixed worksite.
• Permitting unlawful cost-shifting by using a bus driver who demanded workers pay $150 each before getting on the bus.
• Failing to pay the required wage rates by paying $8 per hour in cash instead of $13.15 per hour, as stated in the work contract.
• Trying to discriminate and intimidate workers by confiscating their passports and visas upon arrival at the farm to restrict their ability to leave when the employers failed to pay full wages.

In addition, investigators determined the employers violated federal minimum wage provisions when they failed to pay workers at least the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour during their first week of employment by assessing workers inbound transportation expenses. They also denied the workers any pay for the first week of their employment, leaving them a week behind the wages promised in the contract.

“These employers’ actions are shocking,” Blaylock added. “In addition to committing wage theft, McClenny Farms and Valadez frightened workers and took personal documents to prevent them from leaving farms, acts of intimidation that we will punish as the law allows.” 

In addition to assessing civil money penalties, the division recovered $97,100 in back wages for the workers and debarred Francisco Valadez Jr. as an individual from participation in the H-2A program for two years. 

In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $5.8 million in back wages for 8,260 workers employed in the agricultural industry. After 879 investigations, the division assessed employers more than $7.9 million in civil money penalties for violations of federal laws.

The division offers farmworker rights information, compliance assistance resources for employers and an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit to ensure compliance with the law. The federal government can temporarily ban, or debar, employers from hiring H-2A workers or from participating in the program altogether for a period of up to three years.

Employees and employers can also contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the 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. 

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $481,357 from a Burbank paint and wall covering company who shortchanged 117 workers by failing to pay required overtime wages and then told federal investigators repeatedly that the employees had not worked overtime hours.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found The Rodin Group employees worked on weekends routinely and, on occasion, worked double shifts on weekdays to exceed 40 hours in a workweek. The division determined employees’ weekly overtime ranged from 30 minutes to 72 hours.

In addition, the division learned the employers paid overtime hours in cash routinely and they did not record or pay employees for required hours spent in travel and replenishing supplies. The employers’ willful violations led the department to assess The Rodin Group with $55,042 in civil money penalties.

“Our investigation found The Rodin Group deliberately tried to deny more than 100 employees their hard-earned wages, including overtime wages when some employees worked as many as 72 hours of overtime,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Francisco Ocampo in Los Angeles. “The employers have learned that misleading investigators will not be tolerated and that willful violations can lead to significant damages and civil money penalties.” 

The employers’ actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Rodin Group in Burbank is a commercial painting and wall covering company, providing services in the Los Angeles area, including clients in San Bernardino, Ventura and Orange counties. 

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 department 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 on any mobile device, also available in Spanish.

This news release is also available in Spanish.

Employer:      Urban Air Tutwiler LLC, operating as Urban Air Trussville

                        3695 Roosevelt Blvd.

                        Birmingham, AL 35235

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the Birmingham indoor adventure park allowed 36 minor-aged employees, under 16 years old, to work after 7 p.m. on a school night, after 9 p.m. in the summer, more than 3 hours on school days and more than 18 hours a week during a school week, all violations of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The division also found the employer failed to include a worker’s bonus in overtime pay calculation, an FLSA overtime violation. 

Civil money penalties assessed:       $28,476 to address child labor violations

Back wages owed to workers:          $145 to one worker

Quote: “The significant increase in child labor violations nationwide is troubling,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “Here in the Southeast and across the nation, the Department of Labor is committed to making sure young workers can experience the world of work without jeopardizing their safety or education by enforcing the laws that protect them.

Background: In February 2023, the agency found a Jacksonville, Florida-based Urban Air location also in violation of child labor laws when it allowed 55 minor-aged employees, 14- and 15-years old, to work after 7 p.m. on a school night. The agency assessed the employer $43,505 in civil money penalties in that case.

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including information about protections for young workers on the department’s YouthRules! website.

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. 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, which is available in English and Spanish.

Employer:      Heide & Cook LLC

                            1714 Kanakanui St.

Honolulu, HI 96819                                                                                                     

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the HVAC services company denied overtime wages for 15 employees, a violation of the workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators determined that Heide & Cook knowingly violated the law by paying regular, straight-time rates for some overtime hours. Given the reckless nature of the violations, the division assessed the employer with $5,000 in civil money penalties.

Back Wages Recovered:     $84,540 in overtime back wages for 15 employees

                                                        $84,540 in liquidated damages for 15 employees

Quote: “Employers are legally responsible for counting and paying employees for all hours worked, including time-and-a-half pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “Employers who recklessly fail to pay overtime will learn those violations have costly consequences, namely an additional amount in liquidated damages equal to the wages owed.”

Employer’s address:            Plantation Pointe Retirement Community 

                                                81 Windsor Boulevard

                                                Columbus, MS 39702

Investigation Sites:               The Arrington LLC, operating as Arrington Assisted Living

                                                 234 Windsor Blvd

                                                 Columbus, MS 39702

                                                Windsor Place Nursing Center Inc.

                                                81 Windsor Boulevard

                                                Columbus, MS 39702

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer at its Arrington Assisted Living location – which provides housing and nursing care, housekeeping and meal preparation services for older adults – failed to carry hours over from the beginning of a workweek into the next pay period when compensating employees on a semi-monthly pay schedule. By doing so, the employer did not pay employees the time-and-a-half rate due when the workweek hours split by the pay period totaled more than 40, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Arrington Assisted Living also failed to compute a weighted average for employees paid two different pay rates in the same workweek. By doing so, the employer paid some employees lower overtime rates for hours worked over 40. In addition, the employer failed to keep accurate pay records as required. 

In a 2022 investigation, the agency found the employer also violated the FLSA by failing to pay overtime premiums on shift differential bonuses and weight averages in overtime weeks at its Windsor Place Nursing Center location. 

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered:           $59,417 for 64 workers

Civil Money Penalties Assessed:                                          $7,616                                     

Quote: “Arrington Assisted Living repeatedly shortchanged workers their wages – the same workers who provide essential care for our loved ones – depriving those employees the means they need to support themselves and their loved ones,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “The Wage and Hour Division will not tolerate employers repeatedly or willfully violating workers’ rights. Workers must be paid their hard-earned wages.” 

Background: In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division concluded more than 1,100 investigations in healthcare industries. These investigations recovered nearly $15 million in back wages for more than 22,000 workers. 

On Nov. 13, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will present a webinar on workers’ rights and protections for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders as part of its ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve employer compliance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The event will occur as the nation marksHome Care and Hospice Month in November. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST. Attendance is free but registration is required. 

Get more information on how the Wage and Hour Division is focused on improving compliance by residential care, nursing facilities, home health services and other care-focused industry employers by protecting workers’ rights and protections, nationwide. 

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. 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. Workers and employers alike 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 Wage and Hour Division.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $11.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 1,000 employees of an East Coast restaurant chain after a series of investigations and litigation by the department. 

The recovery is related to a consent judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk that resolves litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor related to pay practices at more than 40 Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurant locations owned by Ruben Leon in seven states. After an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the department filed a complaint alleging Leon and the restaurants violated overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

The employers agreed to the consent judgment after months of litigation and just before a jury trial was scheduled to begin. The lawsuit included Plaza Azteca locations in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. 

“Our investigators found Plaza Azteca knew of its legal obligations to pay workers minimum wage and overtime and keep accurate payroll records and yet, willfully disregarded federal law,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The employers failed to pay full wages to more than 1,000 employees. The court’s action in this case is an important step in our efforts to make a meaningful difference in the lives of these workers by recovering their hard-earned wages.”

Specifically, the department alleged that numerous Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurants paid back-of-the-house employees predetermined amounts. By doing so, the employers failed to pay some employees who worked up to 40 hours in a workweek the required minimum wage and did not pay some employees time-and-a-half for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employers also failed to maintain accurate records of employees’ work hours and wages, as required. 

Due to the repeat and willful nature of the violations, the consent judgment also recovered $625,000 in civil money penalties from the employers.

“This outcome sends a strong message to other restaurant industry employers of the costly consequences that can occur when they deprive employees of their full and rightful wages,​” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “As we did in this case, the U.S. Department of Labor will strategically deploy our investigative and litigation resources to remedy systemic violations of the law at a national scale across an enterprise’s locations.”

In addition to the back wages and penalties, the consent judgment forbids the employers from violating the FLSA in the future and requires them to retain a qualified independent consultant to make certain the employers’ payroll and recordkeeping practices comply with the FLSA.

View the consent judgment and order.

The back wages and liquidated damages are due to certain current and former employees of Plaza Azteca restaurants regardless of their immigration status. As some of the workers affected by this case may have relocated, the Wage and Hour Division encourages former or current affected employees to contact the division at 215-861-5180 with any questions. 

The Wage and Hour Division district offices in Boston, Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Richmond, Virginia, conducted the investigations. The Boston and Philadelphia Regional Solicitor’s offices litigated the case.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages, regardless of their immigration status. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices – free and now available in English and Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division. 

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Employer:      T’s Pro-Painting LLC

                        14331 SE 213 St.

Kent, WA 98042                                                                                                     

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the painting services company failed to pay 49 employees their overtime rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators determined T’s Pro-Painting violated federal overtime requirements knowingly. The division also learned the employer did not keep time records for all employees. Given the willful nature of the violations, the division assessed $4,035 in civil money penalties. 

Back Wages Recovered:       $57,330 in overtime wages and $57,330 in liquidated damages for 49 employees.                                             

Quote: “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to protect the workers’ rights to receive the full amount of their earned wages, including overtime rates when required,” said Wage and Hour District Director Thomas Silva in Seattle. 

LOS ANGELES – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su delivered the keynote address at CareFest, a gathering of entertainment, philanthropy and business and government leaders focused on the future of care held Nov. 2, 2023.  

“As we build our nation’s infrastructure, we know that a strong, secure care infrastructure is just as important as America’s roads and bridges,” said Acting Secretary Su in her keynote address. 
 

During her remarks, Su also announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has published sample employment agreements for domestic workers, including house cleaners, home care workers and nannies. These informal and non-binding agreements serve only as tools for employers and domestic workers to begin conversations and create shared understandings of potential terms of employment.

“Today, we take an important step in delivering on the President’s vision,” explained Acting Secretary Su. “In the past, too many care workers haven’t had an agreement as they started their job to set their responsibilities or their rate-of-pay or the quality of their working conditions. Today, the Department of Labor is releasing sample employment agreements for cleaners, home care workers and nannies who are employed by private households.”  

These sample agreements coincide with President Biden’s Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, which directed federal agencies to “make all efforts to improve jobs and support for caregivers, increase access to affordable care for families and provide more care options for families.” Specifically, the order called on the Secretary of Labor to develop compliance assistance and best practices for domestic care workers and their employers to promote fair workplaces and ensure the parties know their rights and responsibilities.

Provisions in the sample agreements announced today provide examples of the types of terms and conditions of employment that employers and employees may choose to consider for use by both parties in private contracts. 

Sample contract agreements can be downloaded from the department’s Women’s Bureau website. 

ATLANTA – As part of an effort to address wage-related violations by the Southeast’s care industries’ employers, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold a webinar on workers’ rights and protections for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders in the Southeast.

On Nov. 13, the department’s Wage and Hour Division will present “Caring for Those Who Care: Labor Rights for Workers in the Care Industry,” in an ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve employer compliance in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The event will occur as the nation marks Home Care and Hospice Month in November.

Division representatives will collaborate with the Women’s Bureau and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to offer an overview of federal protections for care workers to help employers, workers and their advocates understand their respective responsibilities and rights. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST. Attendance is free but registration is required.

“Our nation’s ability to provide care for the most vulnerable people in our communities depends on truly dedicated workers in the growing care industry,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to collaborating with partners like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ensure care workers in the Southeast receive all of their protections. Denying workers these protections hurts workers and their families and it harms the region’s economy when they have less to spend.” 

In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division concluded more than 1,100 investigations in health care industries. These investigations recovered nearly $15 million in back wages for more than 22,000 workers.

The division’s initiative focuses resources on educating care workers and their communities about their rights to minimum wage and overtime pay and how to file a complaint if they believe their rights have been violated. The initiative also targets the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, an illegal practice that may deprive workers of legally earned wages and other protections.

“This presentation is part of our ongoing compliance assistance and enforcement initiative to reduce employer violations in the Southeast’s care industries. For those unable to attend, we remind everyone that many compliance resources are just a few online clicks away. These resources are available at no cost to employers and workers. If needed, our staff and outreach professionals are also ready to assist,” Coria added. 

Register for Caring for Those Who Care: Labor Rights for Workers in the Care Industry.

The division offers multiple compliance assistance resources to provide employers the tools they need to comply with the law. Employers and workers alike can call the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) to find out about upcoming compliance assistance events, request information or ask specific questions. The division will confidentially address questions – regardless of where a caller is from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division and its searchable Workers Owed Wages database. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free, available in English or Spanish.

HARTFORD, CT – Numerous southeastern Connecticut residents rely on domestic caregivers for their daily living needs. While certain domestic workers were historically excluded from various protections provided by federal employment law, the Fair Labor Standards Act now entitles many of these workers to receive overtime wages when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

After an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal court entered a consent judgment requiring a Waterford-based homecare service business, CareCo Shoreline Inc. – doing business as CareCo – and its owner Helga Pfanner, to pay a total of $92,150 in back wages and liquidated damages to 107 in-home caregivers. The back wages and liquidated damages, which cover the period from March 24, 2018, to Aug. 10, 2019, have been paid, and the department’s Wage and Hour Division is distributing them to the affected employees. Due to the violations’ willful and repeated nature, CareCo and Pfanner have also paid $80,000 in civil money penalties to the department. Read the consent judgment and order.

The consent judgment came in the wake of the department prevailing on its motion for partial summary judgment, in which the court granted summary judgment on CareCo’s overtime violations based on its own records, CareCo’s liability for liquidated damages and the willfulness of those overtime violations. Read the partial summary judgment order. 

“Caregivers work long hours, performing vital services for people in need. They deserve and have the right to be paid all the wages they have earned for their hard work,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Donald Epifano in Hartford, Connecticut. “Violations like those found in this case, which can harm essential workers, are preventable. The U.S. Department of Labor encourages all employers to contact their nearest Wage and Hour Division office for assistance with understanding their responsibilities under the law.”

The consent judgment resolving the case, entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, also permanently forbids CareCo and its owner from violating federal overtime and recordkeeping requirements, and from discharging or discriminating against any employee who takes part in an investigation or otherwise exercises their FLSA rights. The consent judgment also requires the employers to cooperate with and provide truthful information and records in response to any future FLSA investigations.

“Against the historical backdrop of domestic workers being excluded from certain protections provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act and what that exclusion has meant for generations of domestic workers, the U.S. Department of Labor will pursue all appropriate legal channels to ensure that employers comply with the law and their responsibilities to pay their employees properly,” said regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston.

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 regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. It also prohibits employers from firing or taking adverse action against employees for exercising their rights. Read more about protections for domestic service workers under the FLSA. 

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 department 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 in English or Spanish.

Su v. CareCo Shoreline Inc. d/b/a CareCo and Helga Pfanner

Civil Action No.  3:21-cv-00401-VAB