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

                 Workplace Justice Project

What:      Memorandum of Understanding

When:     August 23, 2023

                 11 a.m. CDT

Where:   F. Edward Hebert Federal Building

                600 South Maestri Place

4th Floor Training Room

                New Orleans, LA 70130

Background: The Wage and Hour Division’s New Orleans District Office and the Workplace Justice Project, a  non-profit worker advocacy organization, signed a memorandum of understanding to improve both organizations’ effectiveness in providing critical services to low-wage workers. The memorandum establishes a partnership that will cross-train staff on how to identify labor violations and increase information sharing between the agencies to help prevent and respond to potential federal violations better. The initiative will also improve both agencies’ ability to educate workers on their labor rights and protections.

Quote: “In partnership with the Workplace Justice Project, the Wage and Hour Division can help expand our ability to protect the rights of low-wage workers,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Troy Mouton, in New Orleans. “Our agencies’ goals complement each other and create a unique opportunity to provide critical services to workers who need them most.”

Employer:                              CAH Inc., operating as Community Alternative Housing

Investigation site:                  2905 Breezewood Ave.

                                                Suite 104 

                                                Fayetteville, NC 28303

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the North Carolina home health care service paid employees straight-time rates for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay the employees a time-and-a-half premium for hours over 40 in a workweek, an overtime violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages Recovered: $174,751 for 50 workers                                      

Quote: “All workers deserve the wages they legally earned, including those who provide essential care to people in our communities,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Employers with questions about their obligations should contact us for free guidance that could help them avoid paying a significant amount of back wages and – as in the case of this employer – work cooperatively to correct violations found as soon as they are discovered.”

Background: CAH Inc. is non-profit that provides day programs, residential services, community services and independent living services to children, adolescents and adults.

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. 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.

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

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order from a federal judge that orders the owner and administrator of an Illinois home care and home healthcare provider to pay $324,049 in back wages and liquidated damages as part of the department’s effort to recover overtime denied to 159 healthcare workers.

Following a two-year review of pay practices of Destiny Healthcare Services Inc. by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on July 31, 2023. Shortly thereafter, the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Chicago was able to obtain a consent order resolving all issues, including payment of $324,049 in back wages and liquidated damages, and an injunction for future compliance.

From October 2020 through October 2022, investigators determined owner Mirza Baig and administrator Sonia Chalal did not keep accurate records of hours worked and paid the affected workers straight-time wages for all hours worked. By doing so, the Westchester-based employers failed to pay overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Home caregivers deliver vital services and allow people to continue to live at home as they age or cope with medical ailments, yet these essential workers are among our nation’s lowest paid people,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Tom Gauza in Chicago. “Just as their clients depend on them, these workers rely on being paid every dollar they earn to support themselves and their families. We are committed to protecting these workers’ rights and to holding employers accountable when they fail to meet their legal obligations.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that as of May 2022, the average nursing assistant in the home healthcare services industry earned $32,160 per year, about $15.46 an hour and that the healthcare and social assistance industry had more than 1.9 million open jobs nationwide.

“Employers must follow all applicable wage laws for their industry. The Wage and Hour Division encourages both employers and workers with questions on federal wage laws to contact us for clarification,” Gauza added.

Based in Westchester, Destiny Healthcare Services Inc. provides home care and home healthcare services, and also has offices in Aurora, Chicago, Evergreen Park and Joliet.

The Wage and Hour Division offers resources on wages rules for healthcare workers.

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. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for free on iOS and Android devices in English or Spanish to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Su v. Destiny Healthcare Services, Inc,. Mirza Baig, Sonia Chalal

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division

Case: 1:23-cv-04982

Employer: S & W Renovation & Landscape Contractor Inc. operating as S&W Foundation Contractors

Investigation site:
2806 Singleton St.
Rowlett, TX 75088                                

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer deducted lunch breaks automatically without first making sure workers did, in fact, take a lunch break. The automatic deduction caused overtime and recordkeeping violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages and Damages Recovered:
$51,872 in back wages
$51,872 in liquidated damages

Quote: “Employers have a responsibility to make certain employees actually take lunch breaks when automatic deductions are made,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jesus A. Valdez in Dallas. “The law requires them to pay employees their full earned wages, including pay for time when lunch breaks are not used. The Wage and Hour Division has professionals ready to help employers understand regulations and avoid compliance issues.”

Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers numerous 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 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 Timesheet App for free.

Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

Raleigh, nc – A federal investigation has found that a Virginia-based information technology support company under contract with the U.S. Marine Corps incorrectly classified 10 workers as exempt from overtime, leading to the recovery of $77,627 in back wages and benefits owed to them.

The affected workers were hired for computer systems and tech support of personnel at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, Camp Lejeune and other U.S. military installations.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined Leidos Inc. applied the administrative exemption under the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act incorrectly. By doing so, the employer failed to pay workers their correct health and welfare and holiday benefits as required by the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. This resulted in the recovery of $55,593 for the affected workers.

The division also found that, while wrongly exempted from overtime, Leidos paid the 10 workers straight-time rates for all hours worked, which denied them an overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek in violation of the FLSA. Investigators determined the employees were due $22,034 in unpaid overtime wages.

“Federal contractors must understand and meet all the requirements associated with performing work on government contracts,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Our investigation shows the Department of Labor’s commitment to making sure employees are paid their rightfully earned wages.”

By law, contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts valued at more than $2,500 must pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality, or the rates, including prospective increases, contained in a predecessor contractor’s collective bargaining agreement.

“We encourage other federal contractors to use this investigation’s outcome as an opportunity to review their pay practices and make certain they are complying with the law and avoiding the potentially costly consequences for violations like those found in this case,” Blaylock said.

Founded in 1969, Leidos Holdings Inc. is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering and science solutions company, serving clients in the aviation, defense, energy, health, intelligence, government and science industries. Headquartered in Reston, Leidos has 39,000 employees working in 42 states and abroad.

For more information about federal contractor wage laws and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline confidentially at 866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243). 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 Timesheet App for Android and Apple devices, now available in English and Spanish, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

GREENVILLE, MS – The paychecks of 91 nurses and others employed by a Greenville staffing agency now include all the wages they rightfully earned, after an investigation by the U.S. Department Labor stopped the agency from denying them overtime pay.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigation found that Prime Care Nursing Inc. paid employees straight-time rates instead of required overtime rates for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The investigation recovered $314,211 in back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers, including some who worked as many as 84 hours per week.

“Our investigations often find unscrupulous employers depriving workers — who provide vital services to people in need — of their hard-earned wages,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “When employers violate workers’ rights, they make it harder for them to provide for themselves and their families. The Department of Labor will hold employers accountable when they mistakenly think they can violate these rights.”

Located in Jackson and Greenville, Prime Care Nursing provides nursing care staffing throughout Mississippi serving hospitals, nursing homes, patients in their homes, hospice agencies and rehabilitation centers. Prime Care Nursing workers include registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and caregivers.

As the aging U.S. population grows and demand for health care increases, employment in a variety of healthcare occupations is projected to grow 13 percent from 2021 to 2031 – faster than the average for all occupations – adding about two million jobs.

The Wage and Hour Division provides multiple tools to help employers understand their responsibilities and offers confidential compliance assistance to anyone with questions about how to comply with the law. 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.

For information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit the Wage and Hour Division website to find fact sheets on nurses and exemptions under the FLSA and nursing care facilities under the FLSA. Use the division’s search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App, now available in English and Spanish for Android and iOS devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

CONCORD, NH – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $215,675 in back wages and liquidated damages for 47 employees employed by Miguel Reynosa and Crescencio Reynosa, the operators of two restaurants in Dover and Epping, who denied workers their full wages and permitted four minors to work longer and later than legally permitted.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill LLC, doing business as Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill in Dover, and Tellez Brothers LLC, doing business as Cinco’s Cantina in Epping, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime, child labor, and recordkeeping provisions as follows:

• Failing to pay certain employees, such as cooks, dishwashers, and bussers, at time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
• Not calculating tipped employees’ overtime properly by basing overtime on their cash wage rates instead of their regular rates of pay.
• Employing four 14- and 15-year-olds to work as late as 10 p.m. and more than 3 hours on school days.
• Failing to maintain complete and accurate records of hours worked and payments made to employees.

“Cinco De Mayo Bar & Grill and Cinco’s Cantina deprived dozens of employees of their rightful pay, making it much harder for these workers to support themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “The more than $215,000 in wages and liquidated damages recovered for these workers by the department will go a long way towards making them whole.” 

The department also assessed, and the employer paid, a total of $29,795 in civil money penalties. The willful nature of the overtime violations resulted in $26,631 in penalties, while the child labor violations resulted in $3,164 in penalties.

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.

“We are committed to helping employers understand their responsibilities under federal labor law and urge them to proactively contact our office for compliance assistance,” McKinney added. “The Fair Labor Standards Act allows for developmental experiences but restricts the hours that young employees can work on school days and in the evening to protect their educational opportunities.”

The FLSA prohibits children under the age of 14 from working in most situations and 14- and 15-year-old employees from working later than 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day and past 7 p.m. the remainder of the year. Additionally, they cannot work more than three hours on a school day, eight hours on a non-school day or more than 18 hours per week when school is in session. The law also prohibits children under the age of 18 from operating dangerous equipment, such as power-driven meat slicers and certain types of bakery machines.

The YouthRules! initiative promotes positive and safe work experiences for youth by providing information about protections for young workers. 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 ensure hours and pay are accurate.

SHREVEPORT, LA – While security workers sometimes face daunting challenges on the job in return for a median national wage of just $15.13 per hour, 58 industry workers are closer to getting wages owed to them by their Shreveport employer thanks to an action brought by the U.S. Department of Labor.

In May 2023, the department obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport Division, ordering Sentinel Security Group Inc. to pay $23,841 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected employees.

The court’s action follows a 2021 lawsuit the department filed after the company refused to comply with the findings of the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Investigators determined Sentinel Security Group denied overtime to the affected employees by not combining hours employees worked at more than one location, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provision.

“Sentinel Security Group deprived 58 workers of their overtime pay by ignoring their responsibilities under federal law,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Betty Campbell in Dallas. “The recovery of back wages and damages will help these employees support themselves and their families.”

The department also filed a separate action in administrative court and obtained consent findings that require the company to pay $7,317 in civil money penalties for Sentinel’s repeat violations.

“Compliance with the law is not optional. Employers cannot repeatedly disregard the law, and the U.S. Department of Labor will take legal action when employers like Sentinel Security Group refuse to pay employees their rightful wages,” explained Regional Solicitor of Labor John Rainwater in Dallas. “This case’s resolution shows employers that there can be costly consequences for defying the laws.”

In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $3.9 million for more than 4,600 people employed in guard services after over 600 investigations nationwide.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages, regardless of where they are from.

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 Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices – free and available in English and Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

SAN DIEGO – A federal investigation has recovered more than $169,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 235 workers employed by a San Diego drywall contractor who illegally denied piece-rate and hourly workers overtime pay.

The recovery follows a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation that found Polvera Drywall Corp. — operating as Great Western Drywall — and two related companies, Empire Insulation and State Insulation, did not pay the affected workers overtime, as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, the employer told workers to record that they worked 40 hours per week when, in fact, many worked up to 60 hours per week.

“People working for piece-rate wages are especially vulnerable to wage theft,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Emily Eckstein in San Diego. “Employers who wrongly believe they can abuse their employees’ rights to be paid all of their hard-earned wages will find the consequences for violating the law can be costly.”

In addition to the recovery of $84,796 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, the department assessed the employer $23,701 in civil money penalties for reckless disregard of the law.

Since 1985, Great Western Drywall has served customers in the greater San Diego area. The company specializes in residential light-gauge metal framing and drywall installation for multi-family, hospitality and assisted living projects.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for 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 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.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it will offer online compliance seminars in September for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders to provide information on recent updates to regulations governing employment practices for federally funded contracts.

On Aug. 8, 2023, the department’s Wage and Hour Division provided for public review the final rule, “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations,” following the first comprehensive review of these regulations in nearly 40 years. Enacted in 1931, the DBRA requires that laborers and mechanics be paid prevailing wages and fringe benefits when they’re employed on federally funded contracts worth more than $2,000 for the construction, alteration or repair of public buildings and other public works.

These seminars will provide participants with an overview of recent DBRA changes and offer them an opportunity to ask for more information or to clarify their concerns. The seminars are part of the division’s ongoing effort to raise awareness of federal prevailing wage requirements among federal contractors and subcontractors and promote compliance.

“Prevailing wage laws ensure that people employed on federally funded construction projects across the nation are paid fair wages and benefits,” explained Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “With the historic investments being made in our nation’s infrastructure, these online Wage and Hour Division seminars will provide employers and others with information about compliance with regulations governing federal contracts.”

The seminars will begin at 1 p.m. EDT on Sept. 13 and 14, 2023. Attendance is free, but registration is required.

Updates in the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts final rule include the following:

• Returning to the definition of “prevailing wage” used from 1935 to 1983 to address the overuse of average rates, and ensure they better reflect actual wages paid to workers in local communities.
• Periodically updating certain non-collectively bargained and out-of-date prevailing wage rates.
• Recognizing the division’s broad authority to adopt state or local wage determinations as the federal prevailing wage where certain criteria are satisfied.
• Allowing wage determinations to include supplemental rates for key classifications when insufficient survey data exists to publish prevailing wage rates.
• Modernizing and clarifying the definitions of “building or work” and “site of the work.”
• Ensuring that DBRA labor standards’ requirements protect workers by operation of law.
• Strengthening enforcement, including debarment and new anti-retaliation provisions.

For more information on the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act and other federal wage laws related to government contracts administered by the Wage and Hour Division, please call the division’s toll-free helpline at 1-866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.