Employer:                                        Wooden Shoe Farms

Investigation site:                       673 North 825 West

                                                             Blackfoot, ID 83221

Investigation findings:                      U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found Wooden Shoe Farms underpaid migrant farm workers, and provided unsafe and unhealthy housing with insufficient smoke detectors, inadequate ventilation and a lack of first-aid kits. The employer also failed to pay workers for all inbound and outbound transportation costs from their home countries, did not keep records for 3 years and neglected to provide the work contract to all workers and pay the required rates of pay. These failures violated multiple requirements of the H-2A agricultural worker program. In addition, investigators learned that Wooden Shoe Farms allowed a 15-year-old to operate a tractor, a child labor violation.

Back Wages Recovered:                   $44,652 in back wages for 28 farmworkers

Civil Money Penalties Assessed:      $19,895 in penalties

Quote: “Farmworkers provide essential labor that puts food on millions of American tables and the U.S. Department of Labor will protect their rights vigorously, regardless of their native homes,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Carrie Aguilar in Portland, Oregon. “The denial of basic living conditions for these workers violates provisions of the H-2A agricultural worker program and we will hold employers like Wooden Shoe Farms accountable for violations like those found in this case.”

Background: Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free.

HEBRON, KY – The initial discovery of illegal pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse by the U.S. Department of Labor led to a broader investigation that found systemic overtime violations by a California-based warehouse operator and e-commerce distributor, and a determination that the employer owes $1,025,909 in back wages to 995 warehouse workers in Kentucky and California.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that WIN.IT America Inc. – the U.S. branch of WINIT Information Technology Co. in Hong Kong, an e-commerce supply chain solution provider – failed to include merit-based bonuses in employees’ regular rates of pay when calculating overtime rates. By doing so, the City of Industry, California-based employer paid overtime at rates lower than required under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In addition, WIN.IT paid some workers straight-time rates for all hours worked, failing to pay the additional half-time rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer also misapplied the overtime rules for some salaried employees, which denied them overtime wages when required.

“What began as an investigation of pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse became a wide-ranging review of a prominent e-commerce solutions provider that found systemic failures to ensure their workers’ rights to be paid all of their hard-earned wages,” explained Deputy Principal Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “As the demand for warehouse workers and the popularity of online shopping grows, e-commerce employers must ensure they comply fully with federal protections of workers’ wages and benefits.”

The investigation included WIN.IT warehouse locations in Hebron and Walton, Kentucky; and Walnut and City of Industry, California.

“Workers will naturally flock to businesses that show an ability to pay them their full wages on time,” Looman added. “Employers who fail to meet their legal obligation to workers and make it harder for them to make ends meet may find themselves struggling to hire the people they need to operate.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment in transportation and warehousing, excluding the postal service, to grow about 327,300 new jobs over the next decade.

Established in October 2013, WIN.IT America Inc. is a subsidiary of WINIT Information Technology Co. in Hong Kong.

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For information about the FLSA and other laws the division enforces, contact the agency at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and its search tool if you think you are owed back wages the division has collected.

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

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Esri-based in Redlands, California, to resolve preliminary findings of a federal compliance evaluation that allege the company paid 176 female employees less than their male counterparts in 2017.

The department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleged that from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2017, Esri – a digital mapping and analytics company – systemically discriminated against 143 female software development engineers and 33 female quality assurance engineers at its Redlands headquarters.

Esri entered into an Early Resolution Agreement voluntarily to resolve the allegations, and agreed to pay $2.3 million in back wages and interest to the affected employees. The company will also review and revise its overall compensation system, provide enhanced training to its managers to ensure future compliance, and conduct annual compensation analyses.   

“Federal contractors must ensure that their compensation policies and practices provide equal pay and do not lead to discrimination based on gender,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Director Jenny R. Yang. “Federal contractors must conduct annual pay equity audits and take proactive efforts to assess compensation systems and remedy unjustified pay gaps.”

Executive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.

OFCCP launched the Class Member Locator to identify applicants or workers who may be entitled to monetary relief and/or consideration for job placement as a result of OFCCP’s compliance evaluations and complaint investigations. If you think you may be eligible for back pay from this settlement, or may know someone who is, please visit the OFCCP Class Member Locator to learn more about this and other settlements.

Learn more about OFCCP.

CLEVELAND, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $374,493 wages and liquidated damages for 62 construction workers employed by a Cleveland contractor that denied them overtime wages when required by federal law, and jeopardized the safety of an 11-year-old by employing them as a groundskeeper allowed to operate dangerous equipment.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found the pay practices of Tom Willumson LLC – operating as Concept Construction – violated the Fair Labor Standards Act as follows:

• Failing to provide one worker their final paycheck, resulting in a minimum wage violation.
• Incorrectly classifying some workers as independent contractors and paying them straight-time for all hours worked. By doing so, the employer did not pay the additional half-time rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, an overtime violation.
• Paying some workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, then providing them bonuses to make up the difference between the minimum wage and a previously agreed-upon rate of pay. This practice led to the employer’s failure to pay the required overtime rate to workers.

In addition to the wage violations, investigators learned Concept Construction employed an 11-year-old as a groundskeeper, who was allowed to operate a farm-style tractor and weed-eating equipment, as well as work more than 8 hours in a day, all in violation of FLSA child labor provisions. As a result of their investigation, the division assessed a $14,944 civil money penalty to the employer for the child labor violations.

“Construction industry workers are among those who too often suffer wage theft because their employers either misunderstand their legal obligations or intentionally shortchange them and undercut their competitors at the same time,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Lisa Kelly in Nashville, Tennessee. “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to holding these employers accountable for their actions – in error or by design – to ensure workers are paid all of their hard-earned wages and receive the benefits the law provides.”

In fiscal year 2021, the division recovered more than $36 million for more than 21,000 construction industry workers in more than 3,000 investigations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there were more than 434,000 job openings for construction workers, and that about 220,000 industry workers quit their jobs in May 2022, all of which makes for a highly competitive job market. 

“The current job market has empowered workers and given them the ability to make choices about the employer for whom they work,” Kelly explained. “Employers who fail to respect workers’ rights are likely to find it increasingly difficult to retain and recruit the people they need to operate their businesses, and they may lose out to those who recognize and reward workers for their contributions.”

The 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, including fact sheets with information about requirements for hiring young workers.

“Concept Construction’s decision to allow an 11-year-old child to operate a farm-style tractor and weed-eating equipment is hard to understand,” Kelly said. “Laws to prevent such actions exist to prevent life-changing injuries or worse from occurring and this employer has learned there are costly consequences to bear.”

Workers can call the division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – 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 agency’s website to 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. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free.

Read this news release En Español.

HONOLULU – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $156,837 in back wages from a Honolulu contractor who paid 46 workers lower wages than the law allows for the type of work they performed under federal contracts awarded by U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Army and Coast Guard in Hawaii.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Tunista Services LLC failed to pay truck drivers, material handling laborers, warehouse specialists, forklift operators, service order dispatchers, janitors and other workers the correct wage rates set by federal law for their services. Instead, the employer paid several workers lower hourly rates than required for their occupations, in violation of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

Tunista Services also violated the provisions in the act – which governs employee pay standards for contractors and subcontractors on federally funded contracts – when they failed to provide the required health benefits, sick leave pay, holiday pay and vacation pay.

In addition, the employer violated the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, which requires overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer based its overtime calculations on the lower, incorrect wage rate and failed to pay the full overtime due.

The $156,837 recovery includes $84,995 for paying incorrect occupational wages, $56,596 for underpayment of fringe benefits, $14,791 reimbursement for unpaid sick leave and $455 in overtime pay for the affected workers.

“Federal contractors who fail to pay correct wages and fringe benefits shortchange workers, reduce their labor costs illegally and gain unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “We strongly encourage all federal contractors to review their own pay practices and ensure they comply with the law.”

Learn more about the division, including its search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division. For confidential compliance assistance about the Service Contract Act and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, call 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 and iOS Timesheet App for free.

LOUISVILLE, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $130,879 in back wages and liquidated damages for 68 workers after a Beattyville-based food services contractor failed to pay their full wages by incorrectly applying overtime rules for managers.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Kellwell Food Management Inc. failed to pay managers the minimum salary required, $684 per week, to waive overtime pay requirements. Since the employer failed to meet this requirement, they owed the employees the additional half-time overtime rate for all hours over 40 hours in a workweek. The employer’s actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Simply paying a salary or a daily rate of wages does not waive an employer’s legal obligation to pay overtime,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville, Kentucky. “If the minimum salary requirement is not met or if employee’s insufficient management duties fail to meet the legal requirements for waiving overtime, then they are entitled to overtime pay.”

“Employers should review their pay practices and overtime rules to avoid similar compliance issues and contact the Wage and Hour Division with any questions,” Garnett-Civils added.

Founded in 1992, Kellwell Food Management Inc. provides food, laundry services and commissary services at correctional facilities in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions or concerns – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

WASHINGTON – In the summer months, many employers hire young workers to meet increased demand. Across the nation in 2022, millions of teenagers are working in the agriculture, food services, retail, recreation and construction industries. At the same time, increases in child labor violations has the U.S. Department of Labor stepping up employer outreach and enforcement actions to help employers prevent young workers’ jobs from jeopardizing their safety, health or educational opportunities.

Since 2015, the department’s Wage and Hour Division has seen increases in child labor investigations and violations. In fiscal year 2021, the division found 2,819 minors employed in violation of the law and assessed employers with nearly $3.4 million in civil money penalties.

Tragically, the division also investigates the deaths of young workers, including three in 2021, and a May 2022 fatality where a 16-year-old worker doing construction fell more than 160 feet to the ground after trying to jump from a roof to a nearby powered lift in Nashville, Tennessee.

“The safety of young workers and significant reductions in child labor violations are top priorities for the U.S. Department of Labor,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “Employers who choose to hire young workers have a legal responsibility to know and abide by the federal laws that govern their employment. These obligations include eliminating all exposures to hazardous occupations and prohibited equipment, and preventing young workers from suffering serious injuries or worse.”

“In recent years, we have seen increases in child labor violations, and the Wage and Hour Division is determined to significantly reduce child labor injuries and violations,” Looman added. “We encourage employers, young workers and their parents, and educators to take advantage of our YouthRules! initiative that promotes positive and safe work experiences for young workers.”

In the months leading up to July, when employment of workers between ages 16 and 19 typically peaks, the division has taken strong enforcement actions, including these  examples:

• In Memphis, Tennessee, where a 16-year-old worker sustained a thumb injury and the division found the operator of a Schlotzsky’s restaurant allowed six 16- and 17-year-old workers to clean and operate a deli meat slicer on a daily basis, prohibited by child labor law as a hazardous occupation. The division assessed the employer with $17,818 in civil penalties.
• In Post Falls, Idaho, where a Super 1 Foods store permitted minor employees to operate power-driven trash compactors and box balers. The employer also allowed 14- and 15-year-old workers to work beyond the number of hours federal law permits. The violations led the division to assess $154,831 in civil penalties.
• At three Oregon store locations in The Dalles, Happy Valley and Oregon City, Fred Meyer, a Portland-based subsidiary of Kroger Co. allowed minor-aged workers to regularly load power-driven box balers, for which the division cited the employer in 2007 and 2008 for similar violations. The division assessed $55,440 in civil penalties given the willful nature of the employer’s violations.

These cases illustrate the types of child labor violations most commonly cited by investigators. Since October 2017, five hazardous occupations – as defined by child labor law – accounted for approximately 90 percent of non-agricultural hazardous occupations’ violations and approximately 61 percent of non-agricultural child labor injuries. These hazardous occupations are as follows:

• Driving a motor vehicle or work as an outside helper on motor vehicles.
• Power-driven hoisting apparatus occupations, including the operation of forklifts.
• Occupations that involve power-driven meat-processing machines (including meat slicers and other food slicers), slaughtering and meat packing plants.
• Operating power-driven bakery machines, including vertical dough or batter mixers.
• Power-driven paper-products machine occupations, including the operation of compactors and balers.

To assist businesses that employ child labor, the division recently launched a web site providing Seven Child Labor Best Practices for Employers that focuses on the importance of training, sharing information and using practical tools to identify the hazardous occupations young workers must avoid.

“In 2022, the Wage and Hour Division has worked directly with employers operating well-known fast-food franchises to help them make changes in operations to enhance working conditions for young workers,” Looman explained. “These successes include a South Carolina Bojangles franchisee who used our best practices to make sweeping changes at their 93 locations in six states, and Pennsylvania Wendy’s franchisee whose corrective actions will benefit young workers at 83 restaurants in three states.”

For more information about young workers’ rights and other employee rights enforced by the division, contact the 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 Timesheet App, now available for Android devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

Learn more about the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions.

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred an East Wenatchee orchard operator for three years from participation in a federal program that allows employment of temporary agricultural workers from outside the U.S. after investigators determined that the employer provided unsafe and unhealthy housing, failed to provide work promised in workers’ contracts, and subjected workers to verbal abuse and threats.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found significant violations of the H-2A agricultural worker program requirements by Welton Orchards and Storage LLC, which resulted in the employer’s debarment from participation in the program. Specifically, violations included the following:

• Did not meet safety and health requirements for housing, including having mattresses on the floor and failing to have working smoke detectors.
• Failing to pay workers for inbound and outbound transportation from their home countries.
• Not offering the work hours detailed in workers’ contracts, which left them unable to provide for themselves for months at a time.
• Failed to contact U.S. workers in its recruiting efforts.
• Not paying visa-related fees to several workers.

Investigators also found Welton Orchards and Storage frequently targeted H-2A workers with abusive and offensive language, and routinely threatened to send them back to Mexico. The employer initially failed to provide required records to investigators, then later provided incomplete records. Investigators supplemented the limited records with information gathered from workers.

In addition to debarring the employer from the H-2A program, the department assessed $64,120 in fines for the egregious nature of the violations found. The division recovered $7,485 in unpaid wages for 26 employees.  

“Welton Orchards and Storage intimidated and threatened workers and put their livelihoods at risk as they violated many provisions of a federal program designed to assist the nation’s agricultural employers,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Thomas Silva in Seattle. “Their three-year debarment from the H-2A program demonstrates that the Department of Labor will safeguard U.S. jobs, prevent abuses by unscrupulous employers and protect vulnerable workers from working in substandard conditions.”

By some estimates, more than three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers are employed in the U.S. They provide the majority of the much-needed farm labor on farms across Washington and throughout the nation, spending weeks away from home and supporting the U.S. agricultural industry.

The division credited the Northwest Justice Project for its assistance in the Welton Orchards’ investigation. NJP is Washington State’s largest publicly funded legal aid program, providing civil legal assistance and representation to promote the long-term well-being of low-income individuals, families, and communities.

“The assistance provided by the Northwest Justice Project to restore the rights and protect the dignity of the agricultural workers in this case has been invaluable,” explained Silva.

In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the Wage and Hour Division investigated 735 cases with H-2A violations and recovered more than $9 million in back wages for more than 13,000 workers. It also assessed $9.5 million in civil penalties to employers for violations of federal labor laws.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. To learn more about the H-2A program and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

The division enforces the law regardless of a worker’s immigration status and can speak confidentially 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, now available for android devices, to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

SAN JOSE, CA – Denying their workers overtime pay when required has had costly consequences for the operators of six northern California pizza franchise locations from whom the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered a total of $608,272 in back wages and liquidated damages for 33 workers.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Mountain Mike’s Pizza locations in Pittsburg, Hercules, Pinole, Fairfield, Martinez and Danville – operated by Sumeet Singh and Mandeep Saini – failed to pay proper overtime to the affected workers. The division found the employers failed to combine hours employees worked at multiple locations, leading to additional overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Division investigators also found the employer allowed minor-aged workers to deliver pizzas and work outside of the hours allowed by federal child labor laws. Singh and Saini paid $13,058 in penalties to address the child labor violations. 

“Sumeet Singh and Mandeep Saini required their employees to work extremely long hours but ignored their obligations to pay overtime, and to protect the well-being minor-aged workers,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Susana Blanco in San Jose, California. “Employers whose pay practices violate the law face costly repayment of wages and damages. They may also find it more difficult to retain or recruit workers than their competitors whose actions show they respect workers’ rights and pay them their full wages.”

Founded in 1978, Mountain Mike’s Pizza is a franchise system with more than 200 franchised locations in California, Oregon, Nevada and Utah.

In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, the Wage and Hour Division’s Western region found child labor violations in more than 163 food service employers investigated, resulting in more than $760,000 in penalties.

As historic shifts in the nation’s workforce continue, employers are finding it more and more difficult to retain and recruit people with the wages they offer. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 958,000 food and accommodation services workers left their positions in December 2021.

In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division conducted 4,237 investigations in the food service industry, recovering $34.7 million in back wages for more than 29,000 employees nationwide.

Learn more about the division, including its search tool if you are owed back wages collected by the division. For confidential compliance assistance about how to comply with the law, call 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.

Employer:                                          LI&YU Restaurant LLC, operating as 

                                                                 Bao Bao House

Investigation site:                       868 West Park St.

                                                               Eugene, OR 97401

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found Ji Li, owner of LI&YU Restaurant LLC – operating as Bao Bao House – kept all the tips workers received from customers and used the money to pay employees’ wages. Li also failed to keep accurate records. Both are violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages Recovered: $43,013 in back wages for five employees

                                                     $43,013 in liquidated damages for five employees

Civil Money Penalties Assessed: $1,725 in penalties

Quote: “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to protect workers’ rights to keep all their earnings, including tips, and prevent employers from gaining a competitive advantage by reducing their labor costs,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Carrie Aguilar in Portland, Oregon. “Customers’ tips to restaurant staff belong to the workers that received them. Any attempt by employers to keep those earnings is a direct violation of tipped workers’ wage rights.”

Background: In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $31.7 million in back wages for workers in the food service industry. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, and its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free.