WEST COVINA, CA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $78,472 in back wages and liquidated damages for 54 guards employed by a West Covina security company that denied them overtime pay illegally and then attempted to conceal the overtime hours by recording them falsely as training, bonuses, commissions and reimbursements.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Brapga Security Systems Inc. and owner Santos Parinas paid some employees straight-time rates for all hours worked, including those over 40 in a workweek. Federal law requires employers to pay employees time-and-one-half for overtime hours. The division also determined Parinas tried to evade the Fair Labor Standards Act’s provisions by masking overtime hours in the company’s payroll records, which led to additional recordkeeping violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor will combat wage theft of all forms, including when an employer such as Brapga Security Systems manipulates time records to avoid paying overtime wages,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Gayane Aleksanian in West Covina, California. “Federal law requires employers to pay workers their fully earned wages, including overtime, or face potentially costly consequences for violations and penalties for those who try to hide their theft.”

In addition to the recovery of back wages and damages, the division assessed the employer with $15,790 in penalties for the willful nature of the violations.

Based in West Covina, Brapga Security Systems Inc. is a privately owned provider of security services serving clients in Southern California.

Workers and employers with questions can contact the Wage and Hour Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The division protects workers against retaliation and has regulations that prohibit retaliation, harassment, intimidation or adverse actions against employees that assert their worker rights. 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. 

Download the agency’s Timesheet App for Android and Apple devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court has entered a consent judgment requiring a Philadelphia home care agency and its owner to pay more than $410,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 55 employees after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The action by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that determined Alma Conway Home Care LLC and its owner Sara Tucker paid some home care workers straight-time rates of pay for all hours worked — including for hours over 40 in a workweek — denying them the required overtime rates. The division also learned the company employed a scheme to manipulate wage rates.

Specifically, Alma Conway Home Care LLC lowered employees’ regular hourly rates when they worked overtime hours, which caused them to be paid less than their required overtime rates and made employee payroll records inaccurate.

After the employers refused to resolve their Fair Labor Standards Act violations by paying the back wages and damages due, the department’s Office of the Solicitor filed a complaint in November 2022. On March 29, 2023, the court entered a consent judgment that requires payment of $205,434 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers. The judgment also requires the payment of $25,740 in civil money penalties for the intentional nature of the employers’ violations. The order also forbids the home care agency from future FLSA violations.

“Alma Conway Home Care employees provide essential services on which people in our community depend. These hardworking people deserve respect and to be paid all of their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jim Cain, in Philadelphia. “Our investigation found the employers disregarded the law willfully and used pay practices that harmed their own employees.”

The division’s Philadelphia District Office conducted the investigation. Trial Attorney Erik Unger with the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia litigated the case and secured the judgment.

“The U.S. Department of Labor will hold employers who fail to comply willfully with the Fair Labor Standards Act legally accountable,” said Deputy Regional Solicitor Samantha Thomas. “The outcome of this investigation and litigation should send a clear signal to other home healthcare industry employers that we will not tolerate employees being shortchanged by illegal pay practices.”

In fiscal year 2022, the division recovered $14.9 million in back wages for more than 22,000 workers in the healthcare industry, where low wages and high rates of violations are common. As the U.S. population ages and demand for home healthcare services increases, employment in a variety of healthcare sectors is projected to grow 13 percent from 2021 to 2031 – faster than the average for all occupations – adding about 2 million new jobs.  

“Hardworking healthcare workers will choose to work for employers who value them, pay them full wages and respect their rights,” Cain added. “Employers who comply with labor law and appreciate the dignity of work will have a clear advantage when it comes to recruiting and retaining workers.”

As part of its ongoing education and enforcement initiative to improve home care industry compliance, the Wage and Hour Division will present a free webinar, “Worker Rights in the Homecare Industry” on May 4 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. EDT. While attendance is free, registration is necessary.

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.

Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

Civil Action No. 2:22-cv-04569-WB

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring the operators of five pizza franchise locations in Illinois and Indiana to pay $250,000 in back wages and damages in its effort to recover unpaid overtime wages for 35 restaurant and delivery employees.

On April 19, 2023, Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago ordered OM Matteson Pizza Inc., OM Richmond Pizza Inc., OM Plainfield Pizza Inc., OM Krat Pizza Inc., and OM Dyer Pizza Inc. — operating as Rosati’s ­in Bloomingdale, Matteson, Plainfield and Richmond, Illinois; and Dyer, Indiana — to pay the back wages and damages owed in three payments. The companies are co-owned by Kalpesh Patel and Ketan “Kevin” Limbachiya.

The court’s action follows an examination by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of the companies’ pay practices from May 1, 2019, through June 23, 2021. Investigators found the employers misclassified delivery drivers as independent contractors, even though store management controlled their hours and assigned tasks. They also determined the employers failed to pay some workers’ overtime wages at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek, incorrectly categorized some management employees as exempt from overtime, and failed to maintain adequate pay records. These actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“A federal court has agreed with our finding that these Rosati’s franchisees must pay 35 employees fully for their hard work, and as the law requires,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Gauza in Chicago. “Employers who fail to understand wage laws that apply to individual employees may find there are costly consequences for not complying with the law. The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers to contact us if they believe their employer is denying them their fully earned wages.”

The department’s Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit explains wage laws for the industry.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Case: 1:22-cv-7092

FORT MYERS, FL – While a Fort Myers restaurant operator’s choice to deny 75 servers all of their hard-earned tips may not be an uncommon violation of federal law, the decision comes with familiar and costly consequences after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division learned Ginza Fort Myers Inc. – operating as Ginza Japanese Restaurant – required servers to tip sushi chefs, owners and managers based on the servers’ total sales. The employer’s illegal actions made their tip pool invalid under federal law.

The division also found the employers could not account for $22,000 in tips they withheld and had no records to prove those tips were paid to servers or any other employee. The employer also failed to pay a regular rate and overtime to dual-occupation workers who completed separate job roles. All of these actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

As a result of its investigation, the division recovered $262,322 in back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers.

“Tips are the property of the employees who earn them. No employer has the right to keep any tips unless they are given directly to the manager who directly serves a customer,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “This case shows that when an employer handles tip pools improperly, they may no longer apply a tip credit which can lead to an employer owing employees significant back wages and damages.”

Ginza Fort Myers Inc. is a sushi and hibachi restaurant that opened in 2017 in Fort Myers.

Wage and Hour Division investigators recovered more than $27 million for more than 22,500 workers in the food service industry in fiscal year 2022. 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.

Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free, also available in Spanish.

Employer:   CSI Catalano’s Nurses Registry Inc., operating as CSI

Investigation site: 3801 Bee Ridge Road,  Sarasota, FL 34233

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the Florida nurse registry staffing service misclassified caregivers as independent contractors and paid them 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 hours in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. A consent judgment entered in the Northern District of Florida by the Office of the Solicitor resolved the case after a period of litigation, with the employer also agreeing with a court order not to commit future violations.

Back Wages Recovered: $260,221 for 61 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 Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “Employers should contact the Wage and Hour Division to determine if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. In this case, the employer should have followed federal law in making their determination. When federal and state regulations conflict, employers must abide by the more restrictive of the regulations.”

Background: The Sarasota-based CSI Catalano’s Nurses Registry Inc. is part of Caregiver Services Inc. in Miami, and one of 14 nurse registries in 47 Florida counties. The company provides staffing that includes registered nurses, certified nursing assistants, home health aides and companions.

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 the division confidentially with questions regardless of their immigration status. 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 android devices, available in English and Spanish, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

OMAHA, NE – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $272,163 in overtime back wages for 133 workers employed by an Omaha-based operator of six bars, restaurants and live music venues that used a tip pool illegally, and denied servers and salaried employees correct overtime wages.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Maven Act II LLC violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act at six of its locations when they did the following:

• Included salaried managers when it instituted tip pools for servers. By doing so, the employer lost their ability to take a tip credit in workweeks when managers shared servers’ tips.
• Paid some servers time and one-half their cash wage in periods when the employer claimed a tip credit. The employer should have paid time and one-half the employees’ regular hourly rate.
• Classified workers as exempt from overtime but did not meet the necessary requirements. By doing so, the employer failed to pay time and one-half their pay rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
• Did not maintain time records from May 2020 until January 2021.

The division also assessed $6,930 in civil money penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Servers and bartenders are often among our nation’s lowest paid workers. Making a living by depending on busy shifts and customers’ whims is hard enough, without being forced to overcome employers who fail to pay them as the law requires,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Marietta Taylor in Des Moines, Iowa. “Our investigation found Maven Act II LLC misused its tip pool and denied dozens of employees all of their hard-earned wages by violating federal overtime laws.”

The division identified violations at the following Omaha locations, and recovered wages for employees as follows:

In addition to the six establishments included in the division’s investigation, Maven Act II LLC also operates Maven Bar, a mobile bar service, and Maven Ice, a commercial craft ice company.

The department’s Quick Service Restaurants Compliance Assistance Toolkit explains wage laws for the industry.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for Android and Apple devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employer name:            Jurassic Street Tacos LLC

Investigation site:          242 East University Parkway Orem, UT 84058

                                                  275 North 500 West Provo, UT 84601

                                                  3604 Pony Express Parkway Eagle Mountain, UT 84005 (Taco Truck Location)

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the street tacos restaurant operator paid straight time for all hours worked and, by doing so, failed to pay overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division also discovered the employer did not maintain accurate time records as the law requires.

Back wages recovered: $83,539 in back wages and $83,539 in liquidated damages to 56 workers                                                

Quote: “Jurassic Street Tacos denied its workers their rightful wages by not paying them the overtime premium as required by federal law. Unfortunately, this type of violation is common in the food service industry and deprives too many hard working people of their full pay,” said Wage Hour District Director Kevin Hunt in Salt Lake City. “We encourage employers to contact us to make sure they understand the laws governing pay practices so they can avoid the costly consequences of not complying with the law.”

Lea en Español

Employer:      Town and Country Inc., Cleveland, Missouri

Actions:          Filing of Fair Labor Standards Act complaint in federal court

Request for administrative judicial hearing

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Western Division

                       Office of Administrative Law Judges

Investigation findings: On March 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri alleging Town and Country Inc. and its owner, Gabriel Myers, violated federal overtime and recordkeeping requirements. The company is a painting contractor in the metro-Kansas City, Missouri, area.

The complaint seeks a total of $102,774 — representing $51,387 in unpaid overtime wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages — for 29 painters.

After a review of the employers’ payroll records from Dec. 1, 2019, to Nov. 30, 2021, the Wage and Hour Division alleges the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it:

• Did not pay overtime at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a work week.
• Incorrectly recorded hours worked within a pay period, thus denying some employees proper overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.

Town and Country, and Myers refused to resolve the violations administratively which led the department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in Kansas City, Missouri to litigate the case and file the complaint.

In another action involving the company, Town and Country requested a hearing before the Office of Administrative Law Judges on Dec. 12, 2022, after the department’s investigation also determined that the company violated the federal H-2B Visa program by misclassifying eight painters — employed under the temporary nonimmigrant worker visa program — as painters’ helpers which denied them the hourly wages for painters. The division found these workers are owed $93,210 in back wages, and assessed the employer $26,052 in civil money penalties for its violations.

The H-2B visa program permits U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for non-agricultural or other jobs in the U.S. for a one-time occurrence, such labor needed on a seasonal, peak load or intermittent basis.

The Office of Administrative Law Judges will attempt to mediate the H-2B case and proceed to litigation if needed.

Quote: “Overtime violations are found much too often in our investigations, particularly among employees who may not understand their workers’ rights under federal law,” said Wage and Hour District Director Reed Trone in Kansas City, Missouri. “Every worker in the U.S. — including workers with temporary guest visas — must be paid as federal wage laws require. Town and Country knew its obligations as an H-2B program employer but failed to pay proper wages to people they brought to the U.S. to work as painters, instead illegally  paying them as helpers at lower wages.” ­

Background: 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.

SAN BERNADINO, CA – A San Bernardino home contractor has paid nearly $320,000 after willfully denying overtime wages to 143 painters and other employees, after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Sun West Services LLC did not pay overtime compensation for hours over 40 in a workweek to piece-rate painting and hourly cleaning workers. The employer also failed to maintain proper records of employees’ work hours and other payroll records. Both infractions violate provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

As a result of the investigation, the division has recovered a total of $286,289 — $143,144 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages — for the affected employees. In addition, the department assessed, and Sun West Services has paid, $33,705 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the employer’s violations. The investigation reviewed the company’s pay practices from March 2019 through March 2022.

“Federal law requires employers to pay all employees all of their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Gayane Aleksanian in West Covina, California. “In this case, Sun West Services willfully denied more than 140 piece-rate and hourly employees for overtime hours worked. The company has now learned that the Wage and Hour Division will hold employers accountable for such failures and for the costly consequences that come with them.”

Located in San Bernardino, Sun West Services LLC is a residential contractor that provides interior and exterior painting of new homes.

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 i-OS and Android devices – free and now available in Spanish- to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employers:         Nyrio Investments Corp., operating as Stateline Liquor & Wine at 1069 Main Street, Southaven, MS 38671

                             Three Star Investments, operating as Three Star Liquor Store, 3305 South 3rd Street, Memphis, TN 38109

                             Yala Investments Corp., operating as Spirits Unlimited at 3024 Covington Pike Street 1, Memphis, TN 38218

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found three liquor stores in Mississippi and Tennessee, which share common ownership, paid employees straight-time rates for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay the employees a time-and-one-half premium rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, an overtime violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, the employers did not maintain complete and accurate time and pay records.

Back wages and liquidated damages recovered: The division recovered $38,837 in back wages for 11 workers, and an equal amount in liquidated damages.     

Quote: “Employers must pay their employees the wages they have legally earned for all the hours they work,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “There is no excuse for employers to intentionally deny these hard-working people their lawfully earned wages.”

Background: 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 its search tool to learn if you are 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. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free, which is available in Spanish and English.