COLLEGEVILLE, PA – A Collegeville restaurant and its owners must pay $268,660 in back wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages to satisfy a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation into the employers’ illegal pay practices.

The action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found that Aston CC LLC, operating as Vincent’s Pizzeria & Grill, and owners George El Roueiheb and Vicken Mouchlin, willfully violated federal law by failing to pay kitchen workers time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek. The division also determined the employers paid a cashier and delivery drivers for overtime hours separately in cash but failed to pay the required overtime rate. The employers also did not maintain time and pay records for employees they paid fully or partially in cash. 

Investigators also found that the restaurant violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti-retaliation provision by firing three employees who complained to the employers about their overtime pay practices. The consent judgment requires them to pay $9,000 in punitive damages to be distributed to the affected employees for the unlawful retaliation. 

During its investigation, the division also discovered the restaurant and its owners employed three children to work in occupations defined as hazardous for young workers. Specifically, the employers tasked a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old to operate a meat slicer, and two 17-year-olds to operate a vertical dough mixer. In addition, the employers allowed one child under 16 to work more than 8 hours when school was not in session, another FLSA violation. Investigation also concluded the employers failed to maintain records of the dates of birth of employees under age 19 and daily and weekly hours worked for three children. 

“The Fair Labor Standards Act does not permit employers to deny overtime pay or jeopardize the safety of young workers,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director James Cain in Philadelphia. “Food service industry employers must comply with federal wage and child labor laws to avoid violations like the ones found in this case. Learning new skills in the workforce is an important part of growing up, but we must protect children and make sure their first jobs are safe and do not interfere with their education or well-being.”  

In addition to the back wages and damages, the judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania requires Vincent’s Pizzeria & Grill, El Roueiheb and Mouchlin to pay $9,323 for the child labor violations and $6,657 in civil money penalties for the willful overtime violations. The judgment also requires the employers to comply with the FLSA’s anti-retaliation, child labor, overtime and minimum wage provisions in the future. 

“We will hold employers legally accountable when they fail to comply with federal laws that protect workers’ rights to their full wages and ensure young employees work during permitted hours in safe jobs,” said Acting Regional Solicitor of Labor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia.

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

Learn more about the 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 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 – free and now available in Spanish – to track hours and pay.

This news release is also available in Spanish.

PITTSBURGH – A federal court is requiring a Pittsburgh staffing agency and its owner to pay $208,044 in back wages and liquidated damages to 96 home health workers misclassified as independent contractors by the employer who, in turn, failed to pay them their full wages.

The action comes in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s request for summary judgment in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Reliable Home Health Limited. In granting the request, the court has resolved contested litigation begun by the department’s Office of the Solicitor in November 2021. 

The litigation and decision follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of the staffing company, which operates as Reliable Home Health. Investigators found, and litigation established, that the company and its owner Ali Mohamed misclassified the affected workers as independent contractors and shortchanged their hard-earned wages as a result. Specifically, the division determined the employers:

–    Failed to pay one employee for three separate 8-hour shifts over a 2-week period.

• Paid straight-time rates instead of the required rate of time-and-one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek, and paid overtime wages only for hours over 80 in a bi-weekly pay period.
• Did not pay overtime on non-discretionary bonuses given as various pre-announced incentives. 
• Failed to maintain payroll and timekeeping records as required. 

“Hard-working home care aides provide people with essential, quality-of-life services and these workers deserve to be paid all their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh. 

The employers’ actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and led the department to litigate to recover wages owed to the affected workers. In its summary judgment, the court ordered Reliable Home Health Limited and Mohamed to pay $104,022 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers. The court also issued an injunction forbidding the employers from violating the FLSA in the future. 

“When employers misclassify employees as independent contractors and fail to pay workers their hard-earned wages, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold them legally accountable,” said Acting Regional Solicitor of Labor Samantha Thomas in Philadelphia.

Based in Pittsburgh, Reliable Home Health provides in-home care, primarily for older people.

Learn more about worker protections for care workers and the responsibility of employers to comply with federal minimum wage and overtime law.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact its 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. Workers and employers 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.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the implementation of a final rule that modernizes Davis-Bacon Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts regulations to reflect the needs of construction workers on federally funded projects better.

Implementation of the “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation” follows the August 2023 publication of the final rule in the Federal Register, which is the most comprehensive update in decades.

The update greater clarifies and enhances the effectiveness of the DBRA regulations to meet the demands of the modern economy. They strengthen and streamline the process for setting and enforcing wage rates on federally funded construction projects to make sure federal infrastructure investments are also investments in U.S. workers.

“Modernizing the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts is key to making sure that the jobs being created under the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda are good jobs and that workers get the fair wages and benefits they deserve on federally funded constructions projects across the nation,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “This updated rule will create pathways to the middle class for more families and help level the playing field for high-road employers because companies who exploit their workers, or who don’t pay workers fairly, should never have a competitive advantage.” 

The final rule’s regulatory changes improve the department’s ability to administer and enforce DBRA labor standards more effectively and efficiently. These changes include the following:

• Creating new efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and making sure prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages, which, over time, would mean higher wages for workers.
• Returning to the “prevailing wage” definition used from 1935 to 1983 to make sure prevailing wages reflect actual wages paid to workers in the local community.
• Periodically updating prevailing wage rates to address out-of-date wage determinations.
• Providing broader authority to adopt state or local wage determinations when certain criteria are met.
• Issuing supplemental rates for key job classifications when no survey data exists.
• Updating the regulatory language to better reflect modern construction practices.
• Strengthening worker protections and enforcement, including debarment and anti-retaliation provisions.

The DBRA requirements apply to an estimated tens of billions of dollars in federal and federally assisted construction spending each year and provide minimum wage rates for hundreds of thousands of U.S. construction workers. The department expects a significant increase in the number of industry workers due to the historic investments in federally funded construction projects made possible by legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“In light of recent investments in our nation’s infrastructure, modernized regulations are more important than ever to ensure fair wages and benefits for the workers who build and repair our roads, bridges, federal buildings and energy infrastructure,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “They will help set wage rates for workers on these federally funded construction projects that better reflect the realities of today’s labor market.”

New federal investments will support projects related to clean energy, power and water infrastructure improvements, legacy pollution remediation, and renovation to the nation’s broadband and transportation infrastructures.

The DBRA’s purpose is to ensure employers on federally funded or assisted construction projects pay locally prevailing wages to construction workers and to prevent the unintended consequence of depressing workers’ wages during the government’s construction contracting activity.

Learn more about the final rule to modernize Davis-Bacon Act regulations.

Learn more about DBRA worker protections or the Wage and Hour Division. You may also call toll-free 1-866-4US-WAGE to speak directly and confidentially to a trained Wage and Hour Division professional. The division protects workers regardless of where they are from and can communicate with workers in more than 200 languages.

Read this news release En Español.

RALEIGH, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred a North Carolina farm labor contractor from employing temporary non-immigrant agricultural workers for three years and assessed $62,531 in civil money penalties after investigators found widespread violations of the federal H-2A program.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division learned H-2ALC Valentino Lopez, operating as Valentino Lopez, confiscated workers’ passports immediately after they arrived, failed to pay weeks of wages to more than a dozen workers, did not pay the inbound and outbound transportation expenses for workers, and charged  workers fees between $150 and $8,000 to participate in the federal program.

The Atkinson-based Lopez recruited, hired, housed and transported H-2A program workers to pick blueberries at Ronnie Carter Farms Inc. in Sampson County. The program helps provide agricultural employers with foreign workers to perform temporary or seasonal work including planting, cultivating or harvesting labor. 

Specifically, division investigators found that – in addition to the intimidating practice of collecting and retaining passports workers needed to leave the farm – Lopez violated federal regulations by doing the following: 

• Failing to pay inbound transportation expenses to 75 workers during the 2020 and 2021 harvest and outbound transportation expenses to 47 workers in the 2020 season.
• Not paying 13 workers for their last few weeks of employment in the 2020 season.
• Charging 21 H-2A workers fees ranging from $150 to $8,000 to participate in the program, despite provisions prohibiting employers from passing along operating costs to employees.
• Attempting to conceal intimidation and threats by returning all passports and visas to workers immediately before investigators arrived. 

The investigation also led to the recovery of $58,039 in wages owed to 72 workers. 

“Workers in the H-2A program come to the U.S. legally to help agricultural employers meet seasonal demands and earn good wages to help support their families at home,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Valentino Lopez chose to exploit and intimidate dozens of workers and charge fees illegally, and now has been held accountable.”

The division’s investigation spanned Lopez’s H-2A job order for the 2020 and 2021 growing seasons in North Carolina.

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 H-2A temporary agricultural employment program provides farmers with the additional workers they may need to put food on America’s tables,” Blaylock added. “However, this must not come at the expense of the safety and well-being of those workers. We urge growers to take proactive steps to ensure the labor contractors they hire comply fully with all regulations.”

The Wage and Hour Division offers multiple compliance assistance resources, including an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit, to provide employers the information they need to comply with the law. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions using the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The division can communicate with callers in more than 200 languages, regardless of where they are from.

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

SEATTLE – A federal investigation into employees working off-the-clock during meal breaks by one of the world’s largest security and facility services providers led to the recovery of nearly $1.1 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 778 employees and a nationwide enhanced agreement to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Universal Protection Service LP – operating as Allied Universal Security Services – deducted 45 minutes from employees’ workdays automatically but often required security workers to remain at their posts for all or some of the meal breaks. Division investigators learned the employer failed to make proper adjustments to employees’ hours when they worked during these breaks, which violated federal overtime and recordkeeping regulations. 

At the time of the investigation, the employer had assigned the affected employees to work on site at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. 

The division recovered $549,947 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for the employees. The department also assessed Allied Universal Security Services $50,000 in civil money penalties. In the past five years, the division has investigated this employer approximately 200 times at locations nationwide and found the company violated FLSA requirements in most cases. 

“As one of the nation’s largest private-sector employers, Allied Universal Security Services has a responsibility to make sure they pay their employees all of their legally earned wages,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Silva in Seattle. “Our investigation found the company made improper deductions from security employees’ work hours for meal breaks when, in fact, the employer often told them to remain at their posts or to work during these breaks.”

After a separate investigation by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs into hiring practices at one of the company’s Houston locations from 2016 through 2017, the employer agreed to pay $411,000 in back wages to 1,459 Black applicants to resolve alleged systemic racial hiring discrimination. 

Founded in 1957 as Allied Security, Allied Universal now operates in about 90 countries and employs about 800,000 people globally. The company has corporate headquarters in Irvine, California; and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania; and provides security personnel, monitoring equipment, response units and secure prisoner transportation. 

In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $3.9 million in back wages for more than 4,600 workers in the guard services industry. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including its search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division. 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. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.

Date of action:                      Sept. 28, 2023

Type of action:                     Consent Judgment and Order

Names of defendants:           Kale Stems LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Brasserie; Chive Blossom LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Garden; Radish Patch LLC, doing business as Stoneacre Tapas; Christopher Bender and David Crowell.

Background:                          The department filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island alleging that, between April 13, 2016, and at least Jan. 4, 2021, the employers violated the FLSA when Stoneacre Brasserie, Stoneacre Tapas, Bender and Crowell improperly included managers and owners in tip pools and failed to pay the front-of-house employees who participated in the tip pools the federal minimum wage. The defendants failed to pay employees at one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek and did not maintain required records of the hours that employees worked. The lawsuit followed an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Resolution:                             The Consent Judgment and Order enjoins the employers from violating the FLSA and recovers $283,061 in back wages and tips they failed to pay employees, as well as $270,519 in liquidated damages, for a total of $553,580. The court also ordered the employers to pay the department $11,419 in civil money penalties. 

Court:                                    U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island

Docket Number:                   Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-00289-MSM-LDA

Quotes:                                  “The outcome of this litigation should serve as a reminder to employers that the U.S. Department of Labor will take appropriate action, including litigation, on behalf of workers when employers deny them wages and tips required by federal law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston.

“The U.S. Department of Labor provides numerous tools to help employers understand their responsibilities and comply with the law to avoid costly violations like those in this case,” said Wage and Hour District Director Donald Epifano. 

The division’s Providence Area Office conducted the investigation. The Boston Regional Office of the Solicitor litigated the case for the department.

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 can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and 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 — also available in Spanish — to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in a Virginia federal court to recover $205,180 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Williamsburg restaurant that shortchanged 62 employees of their overtime wages intentionally.

The court action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found FFT Restaurant Group LLC, operator of Food for Thought and owner Howard Hopkins paid kitchen staff straight-time rates for all hours worked, including hours over 40 in a workweek, which denied them required overtime rates. The employers also failed to keep accurate records of employees’ hours worked and did not display federal minimum wage posters as required. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Our investigation found that the employer did not pay some employees their hard-earned overtime pay, which is unacceptable,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Roberto Melendez in Richmond, Virginia. “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.”

The order entering the consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Newport News on October 4, 2023, requires the company and Hopkins to pay $102,590 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages. They must also pay $50,034 in civil money penalties for the intentional nature of their violations. The order forbids them from future FLSA violations.

“The Department of Labor remains committed to using all litigation tools, including consent judgments, to recover all workers’ hard-earned wages. This case should remind other restaurant employers that violating the law leads to costly consequences,” said Angela France, an attorney in the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Arlington, Virginia. 

Food for Thought is a full-service restaurant located at 1647 Richmond Road in Williamsburg.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact its 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. Workers can call the Wage and Hour 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.

This news release is also available in Spanish.

Employer:      BBQ Ookook Inc., operating as Oo-Kook Korean BBQ

                        3385 W. Eighth St.

Los Angeles, CA 90005                                                                                                        

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the Koreatown restaurant employer allowed a manager to take portions of the tips left by customers, a violation of tip pool requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Investigators determined that Oo-Kook Korean BBQ allowed a manager to take part in a tip pool and determined that, from April 2021 through October 2022, they kept more than $28,000 in workers’ tips. 

This is the third time the division has found this employer violated federal labor laws. Specifically, the division recovered $5,300 in back wages for 14 employees after a 2012 investigation. A 2020 investigation at another restaurant operated by the employer in La Mirada recovered $16,253 owed to one employee.

Back Wages Recovered:       $28,213 in unpaid tips for 35 employees

$28,213 in liquidated damages for 35 employees

Civil Money Penalties:         $10,103 in civil money penalties given the employer’s history of violations

Quote: “Restaurant employers are responsible for ensuring that workers receive all the wages they earn, including tips,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Siriporn Poondee in Los Angeles. “We encourage all employers in this industry to use the online tools we offer to help them comply with the law or to call us for assistance.” 

Background: This investigation is the result of the department’s cross-regional Food Services Workers Initiative, which aims to advance workplace equity and reach essential workers through collaboration with local stakeholders. The agency’s outreach and collaboration with the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance played a critical role in the investigation’s successful conclusion. 

The department’s Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit explains wage laws for the industry. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

ORLANDO, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $224,113 in lost wages and benefits for 37 Florida workers after finding two employers failed to pay fringe benefits and prevailing and overtime wages to employees working on a new Veterans Affairs multi-specialty outpatient clinic in Daytona Beach.

The recovery follows investigations by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act for work being performed on a federally funded project. 

Specifically, investigators found M.C.A. Communications Inc. failed to pay electricians their fringe benefits and the full prevailing wage for all hours worked. The Houston-based employer also used a rate lower than the prevailing wage rate to compute overtime, allowing them to pay overtime rates lower than required by law. M.C.A. Communications also failed to track accrued, paid sick leave. The division’s investigation recovered $42,729 for eight workers. 

A second employer, EBP Electric Services Corp. in Plant City did not pay electricians fringe benefits and prevailing wages for all hours worked and failed to track and pay sick leave hours. The division recovered $181,384 from EBP for 29 workers to resolve the employer’s violations. 

“Government contractors must ensure their workers are paid the required wages and fringe benefits they have earned on federally funded construction projects,” explained Wage and Hour Division Deputy Regional Administrator Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Employers and workers can contact our office to learn about their obligations and rights under the law or attend any of our upcoming online compliance seminars. These violations are avoidable.”

The U.S. Department of Labor offers online compliance seminars for contracting agencies, contractors,  workers and other stakeholders to provide information on recent updates to regulations governing employment practices for federally funded contracts. 

Founded in 1983, M.C.A. Communications Inc. is a telecommunications contractor servicing commercial construction projects. The Plant City-based EBP Electric Services Corp. was incorporated in 2021.

The Wage and Hour Division offers numerous resources for employers and workers alike, including information about the DBRA, the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) and webinars that take place throughout the year. Workers and employers 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.

Download the agency’s new, free Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices, available in English and Spanish, to help track work hours and pay.

PHOENIX – A federal court has ordered a Phoenix industrial laundry and dry-cleaning company to pay a total of $281,870 after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer engaged in a kickback scheme after the department recovered more than $94,135 in overtime wages for 70 workers in 2020. 

The court’s action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found Fox Real Estate Group Inc. — operating as Sparklean Laundry and Piper — and owner Benjamin Piper denied its employees overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. After the investigation, the employers agreed to pay the overtime back wages. Shortly thereafter, they began demanding kickbacks from its employees, submitted false receipts showing that it paid the recovered wages and threatened workers for exercising their labor rights.

In response, the department sought and obtained a consent judgment and order on Oct. 11, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, requiring the employers to pay the remaining $87,735 in back wages. The court also ordered the company to pay the workers $94,135 in liquidated damages and an additional $100,000 in punitive damages. 

“Workplace retaliation is intolerable and illegal, and demanding that employees return their hard-earned wages to their employer is among the most egregious types of retaliation we regrettably see,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin in San Francisco. “The Department of Labor will use all of its tools to combat retaliation, including through requiring employers who retaliate to compensate workers above and beyond the wages their workers are owed.” 

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 times the regular rate of pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division and workers’ rights, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

“This was a clear case where punitive damages were appropriate against the employer, which both violated federal law and broke its promises to the department,” Pilotin added.

Employers and workers can call division staff confidentially with questions, regardless of where they are from, and 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, free Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices, available in English and Spanish, to help track work hours and pay.

This news release is also available in Spanish. 

Julie A. Su, Acting Secretary of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor vs. Fox Real Estate Group Inc., dba Sparklean Laundry, an Illinois corporation; Benjamin Piper, an individual 

Case 2:23-cv-02034-ROS