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

What:             The Caribbean District Office is launching a digital billboard campaign to assist workers and employers with questions regarding compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and provide confidential guidance. The billboards will be located in seven areas significantly impacted by Hurricane Fiona: Mayaguez, Ponce, Isabela, Toa Baja, Luquillo, Caguas and Metro. Messages will appear in Spanish 24 hours, 7 days per week for 30 days, starting Feb. 6, 2023, to reach the largest audience possible.  

Background:   On Sept. 18, 2022, Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico, causing significant flooding and widespread power blackouts. Since then, the Wage and Hour Division professionals in the Caribbean District Office have provided compliance assistance to employers and employees to improve their awareness of their respective obligations and rights in a post-storm environment. Division investigations have found that many storm-related FLSA violations involve misclassification of employees as independent contractors and employers failing to pay employees for all hours worked, both of which often result in overtime violations.

Quote:              “The U.S. Department of Labor works tirelessly to ensure that workers who help communities recover from devastating storms are paid all of their legally earned wages and benefits,” explained Wage and Hour District Director José R. Vázquez-Fernández in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. “We are always ready to equip employers with the information and guidance they need to prevent costly violations.”

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Employer:                                                     La Dolce Vita LLC

Subsidiary investigation sites:         LDV Golf Cart and Bike Rentals LLC

                                                                            La Dolce Vita LLC, operating as LDV Beach  

                                                                            196 N. Holiday Road, Miramar Beach, FL 32550

                                                                            La Dolce Vita Watersports LLC

                                                                            327 Harbor Blvd., Destin Harbor, FL 32541

                                                                            30A Woodworks Panama City LLC

                                                                            17616 Ashley Drive, Panama City Beach, FL 32413

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer misapplied the seasonal amusement or recreational establishments’ exemption for its workers. La Dolce Vita paid some employees straight-time rates for all hours worked, while paying others on a day-rate basis with no overtime. By doing so, the employer failed to pay employees their additional half-time rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The employer also misapplied a salary exemption for some managers who did not supervise employees, nor had hiring and firing authority, requirements under the FLSA to be able to claim the exemption.

Back Wages Recovered: $144,095 for 141 workers.

Quote: “Seasonal workers are often unaware – because of their short-term of employment – that their wages may be miscalculated. A misapplied exemption, like the one misused in this case, can deny workers of large sums of unpaid wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Situations like these can be avoided by employers by making sure their pay practices comply with federal law. We encourage employers and employees alike to contact us with their questions about wages and other pay issues.”

Background:  Unless exempt, employees covered by the act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay. The division also offers online resources for employers, such as an overview of FLSA overtime provisions. Wage and Hour Division staff can answer questions – confidentially and in more than 200 languages – via 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 who feel they may have wages owed to them, may visit the agency’s database to see if they have wages waiting to be claimed. 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.  

LOUISVILLE, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $188,000 for 125 employees at two Louisville coffee shops that illegally allowed managers to keep a portion of the tips earned by workers.

The news follows a Jan. 25, 2023, announcement by the department’s Wage and Hour Division of its recovery of $300,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 492 workers at Heine Brothers Inc., a Louisville coffee shop found to have redistributed tips and diverted workers’ tips to managers improperly.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Please & Thank You LLC and Sunergos Coffee Ltd. Co. LLC allowed store managers to participate in tip pools. By doing so, the employers violated the Fair Labor Standards Act that prohibits managers from keeping any portion of tips earned by employees.

The division recovered $108,705 in back wages and liquidated damages for 55 Please & Thank You employees, and $79,715 in back wages and damages for 70 Sunergos workers.

“Federal law protects earned tips to make sure they are paid to the workers who received them for their good service,” said Wage and Hour District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville, Kentucky. “Employers must follow the required criteria for operating tip pools or face costly consequences.”

“Food service workers are frequently harmed by the kind of wage violations found in the investigations here in Louisville,” Garnett-Civils added. “The outcome in these cases should remind industry employers to review their pay practices carefully and contact the Wage and Hour Division with questions or concerns.”

The Wage and Hour Division offers multiple tools to help employers understand their responsibilities and offers confidential compliance assistance to anyone with questions about how to comply with the law, by calling the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Visit the agency’s website to learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including tip regulations under the FLSA.

The agency also maintains a search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.

Employer:      Nick & Ken & Stelios LLC, operating as The Big Clock of Powdersville

                             3540 SC-Highway 153

                             Greenville, SC 29611

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor investigators found Nick & Ken & Stelios LLC – operators of The Big Clock of Powdersville restaurant in Greenville – kept a portion of its servers’ tips and used that money to offset wages paid to other restaurant staff, a minimum wage violation and one of several violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also made illegal deductions from employees’ pay for uniforms, name tags and other items. In addition, the employer paid some staff straight-time rates for all hours worked, failing to pay the required half-time rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

The Big Clock of Powdersville also allowed four minor-aged employees, 14 and 15 years old, to work after 7 p.m. on a school night, a violation of the child labor provisions of the FLSA.

Back wages and liquidated damages owed to workers:    $99,731 to 58 employees.

Civil money penalties assessed:       $2,936 to address the child labor violations.                     

Quote: “Some of the most common restaurant industry wage violations we find involve tips. Employers cannot offset their operating costs and increase their profits by using employees’ earned tips,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “In addition to shortchanging workers’ wages, we found The Big Clock of Powdersville allowed minors to work beyond legal limits designed to protect their work experience from jeopardizing their schooling.”

Background: In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $34.7 million for more than 29,000 workers in the food service industry. 

Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including information about protections for young workers on the department’s YouthRules! website. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – 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 English and Spanish.

LANSDOWNE, PA – Nearly 400 home healthcare workers, employed in an industry rife with overtime violations, will receive the wages they are owed after the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a consent judgment ordering a Philadelphia-area agency and its owners to pay them more than $2.3 million. A federal investigation found the employer willfully shortchanged employees’ hard-earned overtime wages.

Following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered a judgment on Jan. 24, 2023,  requiring Affectionate Home Health Care Services LLC in Lansdowne and owners Ashford B. Sonii and Habibatu K. Dumbar to pay $1,176,883 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 398 home healthcare workers.

“Home healthcare workers provide essential services to people who depend greatly on their care, and these workers deserve to be fairly and fully compensated,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division will vigorously protect the workplace rights and dignity of these workers and ensure employers fulfill their obligation to comply with federal labor laws.”

Division investigators determined the company, operating as Affectionate Home Health Care, paid straight time for overtime hours worked, paid an arbitrary rate less than the time-and-a-half overtime rate required by law for hours over 40 in a workweek or used a combination of the two illegal pay practices. They also found the employer did not separate straight-time hours worked from overtime hours and failed to record the proper hourly rates in overtime work weeks accurately. These actions violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In addition to paying back wages and damages, Affectionate Home Health Care Services LLC must also pay a $219,099 civil money penalty assessed by the division for the willful nature of the violations.

Following the division’s investigation, the department filed a complaint on Sept. 30, 2022, alleging overtime and recordkeeping violations. Soon after the legal discovery process began and the employer was required to provide the department with additional documents and other information, the employer agreed to the consent judgment.

“By initiating litigation, the U.S. Department of Labor made it clear to the employer that we were serious about protecting their employees’ rights and making sure they would receive their rightfully owed wages,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “When employers willfully disregard the law and deny employees’ wages, we will hold them legally accountable, including by seeking civil money penalties.”

Affectionate Home Health Care Services LLC provides non-skilled nursing care to clients who reside in their own homes and need assistance with daily living activities.    

The division’s Philadelphia District Office conducted the investigation. Trial Attorney Sharon McKenna with the department’s Regional Solicitor in Philadelphia litigated the case and secured the judgment.

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,” Looman 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.”

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 learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division.

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

TAMPA, FL – A Florida labor contractor is headed to prison for nearly 10 years after a U.S. Department of Labor and multi-agency investigation into his part in a conspiracy to subject migrant farmworkers to forced labor, obstruct investigators, intimidate witnesses and house workers in unsafe and unhealthy living conditions.   

On Dec. 29, 2022, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida sentenced Bladimir Moreno – a Bartow farm labor contractor who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor and racketeering charges – to 118 months in prison and to pay more than $175,000 in restitution to the victims. The court also debarred Moreno from participating in the H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program and assessed penalties totaling $203,350.

The prosecution is part of an investigation begun in 2017 by federal agencies in several states. Workers who escaped their unhealthy living and forced labor conditions first reported the violations to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a community-based human rights organization in Florida.

The sentencing follows a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation that found Moreno, owner of Los Villatoros Harvesting LLC, violated multiple requirements of the H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and Fair Labor Standards Act.

Los Villatoros Harvesting LLC employed workers to harvest watermelons for Carlton Farms Inc., operating as Sun Fresh Farms Inc. in Wauchula, Florida, for sale to Walmart and Kroger locations. In Indiana, the employer provided crews for Cardinal Farms in Oaktown and Wonning Melons in Vincennes to pack melons for sale through a distributor to chains including Kroger, Schnucks and Sam’s Clubs.

Specifically, the division determined the company and its owner violated federal laws by:

• Failing to provide a fixed work site by pulling workers from their assigned Florida work site to an unapproved Florida farm, and then relocating them to work in Kentucky and Indiana intermittently.
• Not reimbursing workers for visa and application fees, and for inbound transportation expenses to the work site, as the law requires.
• Failing to have accurate records, including earnings, hours statements, and rate and frequency of pay.
• Not cooperating with, and providing false records to, investigators. The employer also intimidated workers who agreed to be interviewed by investigators.
• Failing to meet safety and health requirements for the workers’ housing. Investigators found the employer failed to provide a bed, cot or bunk for each occupant in sleeping rooms. At one location, the contractor housed 44 workers in 10 rooms and provided only 240 square feet for living space and 60 square feet for a bathroom.

“Human trafficking is a scourge caused by unscrupulous employers who profit by exploiting vulnerable workers, many of whom are afraid to complain about the awful situation in which they find themselves,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The U.S. Department of Labor and its Wage and Hour Division are engaged in an ongoing fight to identify human trafficking, to end the misery it brings and hold those who callously engage in it accountable.”

The division and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers directed referrals about the case to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for criminal investigation.

“When we uncover signs of human trafficking – as we did in the Los Villatoros Harvesting case – we work closely with our partner agencies to hold employers to account for their crimes,” added Coria. “The findings in this investigation, and the subsequent debarment and sentencing of Bladimir Moreno show how effective our collaboration can be.”

The division offers farmworker rights information,  compliance assistance resources for employers, an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit to ensure compliance with the law.

Employees and employers can also contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. 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. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App – now available in Spanish – for free.

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CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – The operator of two Long Island restaurants may have thought they only had to take orders from customers, but now has learned that ignoring the orders of federal investigators and a federal court will get you arrested.

On February 1, 2023, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Louis “Luigi” Prudente, owner of Il Vizio Restorante Italiano Corp., operating as Il Vizio, for repeatedly failing to provide information to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division as part of a compliance investigation that began in May 2021. Acting at the direction of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, the U.S. Marshalls Service arrest of Prudente follows legal action prompted by the owner’s refusal to supply documents required for the division’s investigation.

“The arrest of Il Vizio owner, Louis Prudente, shows that the U.S. Department of Labor will use every available instrument to gather the facts, enforce the law and ensure employers do not hold the law in contempt,” said Regional Solicitor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “An employer’s refusal to comply with federal investigators is illegal and unacceptable and, as this employer now knows, has significant consequences including arrest.”

The department issued an administrative subpoena in July 2021, to determine if the employer’s pay practices complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act, but the employer refused to supply the subpoenaed documents. In response, the department’s Office of the Solicitor pursued the following actions in federal court:

• Obtained a Jan. 10, 2022, court order directing the employer to comply with the July 2021 subpoena.
• Filed a Sept. 8, 2022, motion asking the court to find Prudente in contempt and fine the employer for not complying with the subpoena.
• Obtained an Oct. 27, 2022, court order granting the department’s contempt motion and imposing an escalating series of fines, up to $500 a day.
• Certified the employer’s continued non-compliance on Jan. 5, 2023, and requested the court direct Prudente be taken into the U.S. Marshals’ custody until he produces the subpoenaed documents.

“The Wage and Hour Division must be able to access an employer’s records during an investigation to determine whether or not their businesses’ pay practices and other operations comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Mark Watson Jr. in Philadelphia. “We cannot and will not allow employers to refuse to cooperate with investigators and withhold requested records in an attempt to evade their legal responsibilities without consequences.”

Incorporated in 2010, Il Vizio Restorante Italiano Corp. operates two Italian cuisine restaurants in Massapequa and Massapequa Park.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions regardless of their immigration status. The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

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

RALEIGH, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $287,923 in back wages and liquidated damages for 152 workers after its investigation found that an Asheville gift and novelty wholesaler ran afoul of federal law by denying some workers the full overtime pay they earned.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that AFG Distribution banked overtime hours worked by some employees and offered them back to workers as paid leave on an hour-for-hour basis. By doing so, the employer failed to pay the additional half-time premium for those overtime hours, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In addition, the employer failed to pay the additional overtime premium on monthly commissions earned by sales personnel and on quarterly bonuses paid to employees when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.

As a result of its investigation, the Wage and Hour Division recovered $143,961 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

“Employers are responsible for paying all employees correctly for all the hours they work. Failure to do so deprives workers of their hard-earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock, in Raleigh, North Carolina. “The U.S. Department of Labor provides numerous tools to help employers comply with the law, and we encourage employers and employees alike to contact us for assistance.”

Established in 1999, AFG Distribution operates in Asheville and sells wholesale gifts and novelties.

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, 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.

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Employer:                                   Armando’s Mexican Restaurant LLC

Investigation site:                  5792 Memorial Blvd.
                                                         Saint George, South Carolina 29477

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the employer allowed some employees to work off-the-clock without compensation, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employees performed work when they reported to work before their scheduled shift time or stayed after their shift ended. In addition, Armando’s paid a fixed salary to some employees, failing to pay an overtime premium for all hours over 40 in a workweek. Investigators also determined the employer failed to keep complete and accurate records of the number of hours worked by employees.

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered: $38,610 for 17 workers and an equal amount in liquidated damages.                                       

Quote: “Restaurant workers are some of the community’s lowest-paid workers. When employers fail to pay these workers all of their legally earned wages, workers and their families find it harder to make ends meet. Illegally withholding wages also give employers an unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors,” said Wage and Hour District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “The Wage and Hour Division is able to provide resources to both employers and employees to help understand their responsibilities and rights 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 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.

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Date of Action: Jan. 18, 2023 

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act consent judgement

Defendants: Maya Restaurant Inc. operating as Maya Mexican Restaurant, Rigoberto Cobain 

Background: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division reviewed payroll records from Nov. 11, 2018 through Nov. 7. 2020, and determined workers did not receive overtime compensation at time and one-half their hourly rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek and in some cases did not earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The division found 11 cooks, dishwashers, servers and one non-exempt salaried manager were affected by the employers’ failures.

After the owner failed to reach a compliance agreement with the Wage and Hour Division, the department filed suit on Nov. 10, 2021.

Resolution: Judge Sue E. Myerscough issued consent order and judgment to resolve the litigation. The order requires Maya Restaurant and Cobain to do the following: 

• Immediately pay $15,000 in back wages and $15,000 in liquidated damages within 120 days.
• Pay a civil money penalty of $12,500 within 180 days.
• Provide the last-known contact information for employees owned wages.
• Display a poster of the Fair Labor Standards Act requirements in both English and Spanish.
• Display a copy of the consent order and judgment for a period of at least 180 days.
• Comply with the FLSA at all current and future locations operated by company and/or Cobain in Illinois and Missouri.
• Maintain accurate time and payroll records.

Quote: “Wage violations in the restaurant industry are far too common, and often hurt the very vulnerable workers, many of whom do not know their rights under federal wage laws,” said Wage and Hour District Director James Yochim in St. Louis. “Every dollar restored for workers represents justice for those wrongly denied their rightful wages by a business operator who shortchanged them.”

For more information about the FLSA protections for restaurant workers 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 devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Court: U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

Docket Number: Case No. 3:21-cv-03239-SEM-KLM