Employer:     Ark Foods Group Inc., operating as Ark Foods

Investigation sites:  855 County Road, Immokalee, FL 34142

                                  1050 Canaan Road, Roebuck, SC 29376

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the Florida produce packing company incorrectly claimed an agricultural exemption – for packing that happens on or near a farm that produces the harvest – and misclassified its employees as independent contractors as a result. By doing so, Ark Foods failed to pay employees the time-and-a-half rate due for hours over 40 in a workweek, in violation of overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division determined Ark Foods could not claim the exemption because the packing house does not meet the exemption’s requirements.

Back Wages Recovered: $159,519 for 147 workers.                                           

Quote: “Employers must comply with the legal requirements to claim an agricultural exemption. Ark Foods failed to do so and now must face and address the consequences,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers and employers to reach out to us for help understanding their rights and responsibilities under the law.”

Background: From November through May each year, workers at Ark Foods’ Immokalee location pack chili peppers and tomatoes for distribution to large grocery retailers. Founded in 2013, the company also operates packing houses in Hackensack, New Jersey, and Roebuck, South Carolina.

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division offers information on farmworkers’ rights, compliance assistance resources for employers, and an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit to ensure compliance with the law. 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 may contact a Wage and Hour Division expert 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 timesheet app for free.  Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

ATLANTA – An administrative law judge has entered a consent order following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that determined a wholesale plant nursery in Miami gave foreign visa workers preferential treatment over U.S. workers, and housed workers in unsafe and unhealthy conditions in Greensboro, Georgia.

The action by the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges counters Pure Beauty Farms Inc.’s attempt to challenge an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, which identified several violations of the federal H-2A program that allows U.S. agricultural employers to temporarily hire foreign workers to meet labor demands when U.S. workers cannot fill positions.

Pure Beauty Farms grows more than 1,000 different varieties of plants in Greensboro and in Houston, and supplies large retailers, such as the Home Depot, and other independent garden centers and retailers, as well as landscapers and theme parks in eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.

The division’s investigations found the employer:

• Gave preferential treatment to H-2A program workers by requiring U.S. applicants to have certain nursery work experience and to provide references, steps not required for foreign workers. The employer rejected 29 U.S. applicants as a result, including several who previously performed the same job for Pure Beauty.
• Failed to satisfy requirements of the job order by not stating actual contract terms and conditions by failing to disclose the address of the workers’ housing camp.
• Neglected to provide two employees with copies of the Georgia work contract.
• Excluded work hours and the federal tax identification number required on pay stubs.
• Provided housing that violated safety and health requirements. Investigators found living quarters with excessive debris, fire alarms without batteries, water and mold damage, floors with holes, unclean restrooms and food storage, and a lack of proper lighting.

To resolve the H-2A violations, the department assessed Pure Beauty Farms $182,811 in penalties and required the employer to enter into a consent judgment. The agreement commits the employer to future compliance with the H-2A provisions, including oversight by an independent, third-party consultant to monitor and audit all Pure Beauty H-2A labor contractor and H-2A activities for a period of three years. The department also recovered $17,651 in back wages that investigators found was owed to one worker.

“Retailers and consumers may be troubled to learn how some agricultural employers treat the people whose hard work produces the products they purchase,” said Wage and Hour Division Director Steven Salazar in Atlanta. “The federal H-2A program exists to help employers fill jobs in the agricultural industry when they can’t find U.S. workers. Too often, our investigators discover violations and abuses, and find U.S. workers  have been illegally bypassed in the recruitment and hiring process.”

“In this case, we also found the employer housed workers in unsafe and unhealthy conditions, which is unacceptable, and which contributed to significant penalties for the Pure Beauty Farms,” Salazar added. “Clearly, the consequences of violating the law can be very costly. We encourage employers to contact us with  questions and to seek assistance to prevent infractions.”

The division offers multiple compliance assistance resources, including an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit, to provide employers the information they need to comply with the law.

For more information about the FLSA and other employee rights enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions 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, also available in Spanish.

Employer:                               Tri-City Electrical Contractors Inc.

Investigation sites:                430 West Drive, Altamonte Springs, FL, 32714 (Headquarters)

                                                13891 Jetport Loop Road, Fort Myers, FL 33913

                                                5911 Breckenridge Parkway, Tampa, FL 33610

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer – who provides residential electrical services in the Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa areas – failed to include bonuses into the regular rate of pay when computing overtime. By doing so, Tri-City Electrical Contractors paid overtime at rates lower than the Fair Labor Standards Act requires. The employer also failed to maintain complete and accurate time and pay records.

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered: $49,180 for 137 workers, and an equal amount in liquidated damages.                              

Quote: “Employers must understand that overtime rates are subject to all wages earned, including regular rates and production bonuses. When employers fail to factor them together, they deny employees their hard-earned wages and make it tougher for them to provide for themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “The Wage and Hour Division encourages workers and employers to seek our assistance to help understand their rights and responsibilities under the law.”

Background: 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 and a compliance assistance toolkit for the Construction Industry. 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.

Employers:                            Gentle Shepherd Care LLC

                                                8604 Cliff Cameron Drive, Suite 144

                                                Charlotte, NC 28269

                                              At Home Personal Care Services Inc.

                                              1700 E. Arlington Blvd. Suite A

                                              Greenville, NC 27585

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Gentle Shepherd Care – which provides home healthcare services in the Charlotte area – failed to combine hours when employees worked at multiple locations during the same workweek. By doing so, the employer did not pay the affected workers their additional half-time premium rate for overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires all hours worked in a workweek be combined when calculating wages, regardless of where employees performed the work.

A separate investigation found Greenville’s At Home Personal Care paid employees straight-time rates for all hours worked, including hours over 40 in a workweek. By doing so, the employer did not pay the additional half-time premium rate for overtime as the FLSA requires. In addition, the employer failed to pay for travel time between the clients’ homes when the employees visited multiple clients during the same day and did not keep accurate records as required.

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered:

                                                $193,768 for 98 Gentle Shepherd Care workers.

                                                $187,148 for 28 At Home Personal Care workers.                                        

Quote: “Workers who provide home healthcare services deserve to be paid every penny of their hard-earned wages as they care for our loved ones,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “When employers choose to ignore the law, they deny workers the wages they earned and need to support their families. Employers must use this investigation’s outcome as a reminder to review their pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”

Background: From 2020 to 2022, Wage and Hour Division investigators identified violations in nearly 89 percent of more than 1,200 home care and nursing care investigations. These reviews led the agency to recover more than $16.2 million in back wages and liquidated damages for more than 13,000 workers. In addition, the division assessed employers a total of $156,404 in civil money penalties. Get more information on how this effort aligns with the agency’s initiative to protect essential workers in the Southeast, or see 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 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.

WAUSEON, OH – The operator of Wauseon restaurant forced servers – who worked an average of 60 hours a week – to cash paychecks and then pay their wages back to him in cash, allowing the workers to keep just the tips they earned plus $20 in each two-week pay period, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.

Meanwhile, Los Mariachis LLC and owner Ruben Lopez paid the restaurants’ cooks a straight salary for all 60 of the hours they worked weekly, denying them overtime wages due for hours over 40 per week.

In addition to the employer’s egregious violations of multiple provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the department’s Wage and Hour Division also determined they failed to keep accurate time and payroll records.

The division’s investigation recovered $245,509 in back wages for six servers and 12 cooks at Los Mariachis along with Lopez’s commitment to comply immediately with federal wage laws.

“The $245,590 in back wages our investigation recovered will make a significant difference in the lives of 18 Los Mariachis’ workers and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Matthew Utley in Columbus, Ohio. “No server should be forced to work for just tips and $10 per week, and no cook should be paid straight time for 20 hours of overtime. Payment of at least the minimum wage and overtime has been the law of the land for 85 years, and every person working in the U.S. has the right to be paid their full-earned wages.”

“We continue to work with local worker’s advocacy groups, consulates, employer groups and other community stakeholders to educate workers and employers about their rights. The failure to pay accurate wages is a problem across many industries,” Utley added. “Employers or workers with questions should reach out to Wage and Hour for information.”

The FLSA requires the payment of at least the federal minimum wage $7.25 per hour and overtime at time and one-half a worker’s average hourly rate of pay, plus incentive pay such as bonuses, shift differential, and longevity pay. Learn about specific FLSA rules for the restaurant industry. 

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the 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 devices – free and also available in Spanish - to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employer:       Marble Slab Creamery of Pier Park Inc., operating as Marble Slab Creamery

Investigation site:    600 Pier Park, Suite 120, Panama City Beach, FL 32413

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the operator of the Panama City Beach ice cream shop kept all credit card and cash tips the customers left for workers, a wage violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of a worker’s tips, regardless of the hourly wage they may pay the employee.

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Assessed: $169,638 in back wages for 144 workers.                              

Quote: “Tips are property of the workers who earn them regardless of the hourly rate an employer pays,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Office Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Many food service industry workers rely on their legally earned tips as part of their income. The Wage and Hour Division offers employers extensive information and other tools to help them avoid compliance issues and the kind of costly violations this investigation identified.”

Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Workers can call the division to speak confidentially and ask questions – regardless of their immigration status – 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, available in Spanish and English.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

AUSTIN, TX – A federal investigation has found an Austin landscape supply company, where a 17-year-old employee suffered serious injuries in a forklift incident in June 2021, allowed them to work in hazardous and prohibited occupations in violation of federal child labor law.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found New Age Rocks Inc., operating as Round Rock Landscape Supplies, permitted the minor to use a forklift and operate a skid steer loader in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s protections for young workers. The division assessed the employer $34,355 in penalties for their infractions.

The division also recovered $1,950 for two employees denied overtime by the employer who paid straight time for all hours worked including hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer also failed to keep accurate time records and dates of birth for minor-aged employees. These actions also violated the FLSA.

“New Age Rocks Inc. disregarded the law and a 17-year-old employee suffered injuries needlessly while doing work the law forbids them from doing,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicole Sellers in Austin, Texas. “The employer also shortchanged two employees by ignoring their legal obligation to pay overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.”

“As this case shows, the U.S. Department of Labor will take action to hold employers who jeopardize the safety of young workers and deprive workers of their full wages accountable,” Sellers added.

Based in Austin, New Age Rocks Inc. has been a landscape stone supplies retailer since 2012. The employer cooperated fully with investigators, changed its practices to comply with the law and paid the $34,355 in civil money penalties.

In 2022, the Wage and Hour Division found more than 3,800 minors employed in violation of child labor laws, an increase of 37 percent over the previous year. Minors employed in violation of hazardous orders were up 26 percent in the same period, with a total of 688 minors found to be working in hazardous occupations.

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.

Lea en Español

Employer:  Southern Visions LLP, operating as Sweet Brew Tea

Investigation site:  30245 County Road 49, Loxley, AL 36551

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer paid overtime after 80 hours in a pay period and not after 40 in a workweek as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. By doing so, the employer failed to pay the additional half-time rate when employees exceeded the 40 hours in a workweek.

The division also learned Southern Visions allowed a minor-aged employee to drive a vehicle to conduct business and run errands, without meeting criteria set by federal laws, a hazardous occupation violation under the FLSA.

Back Wages, Liquidated Damages Recovered: $12,218 for 64 workers and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

Civil money penalties assessed: $1,980 to resolve child labor violations.

Quote: “Employers cannot choose when they begin to pay proper pay rates to overtime eligible employees,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “The Wage and Hour Division is readily available to help employers and employees alike to understand their legal responsibilities and rights under the law.”

Background: Southern Visions LLP manufactures sweet tea products for sale to residential, commercial, restaurants and specialty store customers at more than 140 establishments in 16 U.S. states.

The division offers online resources for employers, such as an overview of overtime provisions contained in the FLSA. Employers can also contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about Wage and Hour Division. 

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, which is available in English and Spanish.  

HARTFORD, CT – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered a total of $41,221 for 22 workers employed by a West Hartford moving and storage company and its subsidiary that provided bulk mail delivery service under a contract with the U.S. Postal Service.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Woodland Moving and Warehouse Inc. and subsidiary ARL Transportation LLC failed to pay the correct prevailing wage rate, and holiday and vacation pay for some drivers under the Service Contract Act. As a result, the employer paid $32,808 to 22 employees.

Woodland Moving also paid $8,413 to one employee to correct an overtime violation that resulted from its misapplication of the Fair Labor Standard’s Act’s executive exemption to an operations manager who was an hourly employee and wasn’t paid time-and-a-half overtime until he worked 60 hours, a federal overtime violation.

“Federal contractors must know and comply with the requirements of the Service Contract Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The violations found during this investigation were preventable,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Donald Epifano in Hartford, Connecticut. “We encourage employers with questions and concerns about their responsibilities and employees with questions about their rights under federal wage laws to contact the Wage and Hour Division.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act 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.

The Service Contract Act requires contractors and subcontractors performing services under prime contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality.

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 to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Employer:                                Ashmi Hotel Corp., operating as Quality Inn

Investigation site:                  2741 York Road, Pleasant View, TN 37146

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer failed to pay one housekeeper for any hours worked, a minimum wage violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Ashmi Hotel also paid some housekeepers and front desk staff by check for their first 40 hours worked, then by cash at their regular rate for any hours over 40 in a workweek. By doing so, the employer did not pay the additional half-time rate for overtime hours, as the law requires.

In addition, investigators found the employer failed to pay some workers for time spent running errands to the grocery store for hotel supplies. When properly recorded as time worked, some employees’ workweeks increased to more than 40 hours and overtime wages were owed. The division also determined Ashmi Hotel failed to keep accurate records of workers’ hours.

Back Wages Recovered: $58,835 for 13 workers.                             

Quote: “When employers break the law to save the business a few bucks, they deprive workers from their hard-earned wages and make it harder for them to provide for themselves,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Lisa Kelly in Nashville, Tennessee. “Hotel workers are some of the lowest paid in this country, and we are committed to these vulnerable workers, and others like them, to make sure they get paid what they earned.”

Background: The division offers online resources for employers, such as an overview of overtime provisions contained in the FLSA. Employers can also contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.

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, which is available in English and Spanish.