Date of action:           April 1, 2022

Type of action:           Preliminary Injunction

Names of defendants:  Chinatown Supermarket LLC

Allegations:  Chinatown Supermarket LLC has obstructed the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigation when it told employees not to talk to investigators or state that employees worked no more than 40 hours per week, required employees to sign nondisclosure agreements and refused to produce time cards kept on the premises.

Resolution: The U.S. District Court, District of Utah, issued a preliminary injunction enjoining Chinatown Supermarket LLC and anyone who works for the employer, from obstructing the department’s investigation in any manner, including instructing workers not to speak with Wage and Hour investigators, terminating or threatening to terminate workers for cooperating with the investigation and from altering, editing or destroying time and payroll records. The employer must also permit Wage and Hour to read a statement to all employees in English, Spanish and Mandarin informing them of their right to speak with investigators without fear of retaliation or threats of retaliation or intimidation.

Court:   U.S. District Court, District of Utah

Docket Number:          2:22-cv-00221-BSJ

SAN DIEGO – While dozens of companies along the U.S. border in California hire workers from Mexico to labor as warehouse and logistics’ workers in scores of non-descript buildings, U.S. Department of Labor investigators and attorneys are also working hard – to prevent exploitation of these workers and hold employers accountable.

Since a landmark investigation of Premar Global Warehouse Logistics in September 2021, Wage and Hour Division investigators have found three more San Diego-area customs warehouses paying workers in Mexican pesos at an equivalent rate of as little as $2.50 per hour in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Based on these investigations, the department’s Office of the Solicitor reached consent judgments against the three employers – Columbia Export Group PDSA, OMG Global Logistics and Atlas Freight Forwarding – resulting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ordering the companies to pay nearly $2 million combined in minimum and overtime back wages to 108 workers.

In addition, the companies are also ordered to pay a total of $56,675 in penalties given their reckless disregard of the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements.

“All employees working in the U.S. are entitled to the full protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “Through our enforcement efforts, these San Diego employers have come to realize that they cannot avoid federal labor protections simply because their employees return home across the border at the end of the workday. We encourage others in this industry to take heed and avoid the costly consequences of worker exploitation by paying their employees as legally required. The department does not tolerate wage theft and worker abuse.” 

The division’s investigators determined Columbia Export Group PDSA, OMG Global Logistics and Atlas Freight Forwarding engaged in similar schemes to exploit workers and circumvent the FLSA, including using affiliates in Mexico to pay their employees as if they worked in Mexico, not in the U.S. The investigations found the following:

• A.G.A. Investments II Inc. – operating as Columbia Export Group – and owner Arturo Ruffo denied federal minimum wages and overtime premiums to employees crossing the border every day to work at the company’s Otay Mesa warehouse. The court ordered the defendants to pay $267,408 in minimum wages and $648,269 in overtime to 60 employees, and $34,958 in penalties. Columbia Export Group has locations in Ensenada, Tijuana, La Paz, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.
   
• OMG Freight Forwarders, OMG Global Logistics and owner Oscar Mayer paid workers crossing from Mexico to work at the company’s Otay Mesa warehouse below minimum wage and denied overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The employer paid the shortchanged workers through an affiliate’s payroll in Mexico as direct deposit in Mexican pesos. The company paid employees as little as $2.50 per hour. The court ordered the company to pay $233,141 in minimum wages and $588,932 in overtime to 31 employees, and $10,921 in penalties.
   
• Atlas Freight Forwarding Inc. of San Diego paid workers at its Otay Mesa warehouse at a flat rate and in Mexican pesos for all hours worked. The company used the payroll of its Tijuana-based Coordinadora de Servicios Aduanales Atlas to process the payments. The court ordered the company to pay $111,584 in minimum and overtime back wages to 13 employees, and $10,790 in penalties.

“Exploitation like what we found in these investigations is unacceptable. No one should be paid as little as $2.50 per hour,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “The outcome of these cases sends a clear message that the U.S. Department of Labor will hold these labor law violators accountable.” 

The Wage and Hour Division and the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego maintain a productive working relationship to ensure that Mexican nationals working in Southern California are aware of their labor rights under federal law, including the right to report labor violations without fear of threats and intimidation.

“Paying warehouse workers below minimum wage and failing to pay overtime are illegal practices that should never be tolerated,” said Consul General of Mexico Carlos González Gutierrez in San Diego, who recalled that providing protection to Mexican nationals is the main task of the institution he represents. “May these cases remind us all, both workers and employers, that once the worker crosses the Mexico-U.S. border, U.S. labor law applies and will be soundly enforced.” 

Consul General Gonzalez Gutierrez underscored the longstanding partnership with the U.S. Labor Department and encouraged Mexican workers to contact the Consulate at 619-231-3847 or at proteccion@consulmexsd.org if they need support, consular protection or free legal advice.  

The division’s San Diego District Office investigated these cases. Wage and Hour Counsel Boris Orlov and trial attorney Adriana Ahumada of the department’s Office of the Solicitor in San Francisco handled the cases for the department.

The division enforces the law regardless of a worker’s immigration status and can speak confidentially with callers in more than 200 languages. For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact its 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.

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Employer name: 1802 Atlantic Co., operating as Cinnabon & Auntie Anne’s

Employer address: 1802 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators in Richmond found the employer permitted workers between the ages of 14 and 17 to operate a power-driven dough mixer. They also failed to pay two non-exempt hourly employees an overtime premium of time-and-one-half for hours worked over 40 in a work week. 1802 Atlantic Co. also did not maintain accurate records, including hours worked and the minors’ birth dates. Their actions violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions.  The employer also failed to post information about the Family and Medical Leave Policy.

Back Wages Due: $3,560

Civil Money Penalties: $22,082, assessed by the division for the child labor violations.

“Federal child labor laws protect minor-aged workers from workplace dangers and the risks they present,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Roberto Melendez in Richmond, Virginia. “Work experience is intended to provide a useful learning opportunity but not at the expense of their education and well-being.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 958,000 food and accommodation services workers left their positions in December 2021. BLS also projects about 41,400 openings for food service managers each year, on average, from 2020 to 2030.

Learn more about federal child labor laws

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is asking businesses in Nevada’s highway construction industries to complete a survey to help the division establish prevailing wage rates, as required by the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. Not limited to federally funded construction projects, the survey includes active highway construction projects in Nevada between Aug. 1, 2020 and July 31, 2021.

The DBRA directs the department to set prevailing wage rates that reflect actual wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the county where the work takes place. Full participation by contractors and interested parties allows the department to establish accurate prevailing wages and create complete wage determinations. Accurate wages and complete determinations reduce the need for contractors to request additional classifications.

The division will send notification letters and data collection forms (WD-10s) to interested parties and contractors known to the agency. Data must be postmarked by Aug. 31, 2022, to be included. You can also complete the survey online. You do not need to receive a letter to participate in the survey.

The division will host briefings to provide information on the survey process as well as instructions for completing data collection forms (WD-10s). These events will be held online April 26, 2022 and April 27, 2022. There is no cost to attend. Find additional information and register online.

If you would like to participate, or have questions regarding the survey process and forms, contact Luis Cabuhat at (415) 241-3538 or Rose Huynh at (415) 241-3539.

Employer: Romark Laboratories LC

Investigation sites: 3000 Bayport Drive, Tampa FL  and  Carr 686 Km 1.5 Coto Norte, Manati, Puerto Rico

Investigation findings: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the employer missed several payrolls from July 25 to Nov. 15, 2021. By doing so, the employer did not pay employees at least the federal minimum wage and overtime compensation for hours worked, both violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Back Wages Recovered: $1,943,241 in back wages for 139 workers                                               

Quote: “Wages are due to employees on their regularly scheduled pay day. Employers who fail to meet this obligation make it very hard for workers to provide for themselves and their families, and meet their obligations,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “In today’s environment, employers who continue to make it harder for employees to earn a living can quickly find themselves struggling to retain and recruit workers.”

Background: Based in Tampa, Romark Laboratories is a pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and delivers medicine for treating infectious diseases. The company has manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico and in Belgium.

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.

DETROIT – A Detroit law firm paid its administrative and support staff workers a salary for all hours worked but failed to pay at least 36 workers the overtime wages they earned. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that, while the employees of McKeen & Associates P.C. met the salary requirements, they did not meet the duty requirements to defer the employer’s overtime pay obligation to the workers as executive, administrative, or professionally exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

If a professional employee does not meet all the following requirements, the employer must pay overtime:

• The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week.
• The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character, and requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.
• The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.

“Our investigation of McKeen & Associates found the firm systemically violated overtime regulations by misapplying overtime rules to avoid paying salaried workers the overtime pay they were due,” said Wage and Hour District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit. “Overtime violations are among the most common found by the agency, and they are easily avoidable. We encourage employers to use our online tools or contact the Wage and Hour Division with questions to ensure they are paying workers all of their rightful wages and prevent costly penalties for violating the law.” 

McKeen & Associates P.C. specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury cases at its offices in Detroit, South Haven, and Ottawa, Ohio.

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 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).

WEST COLUMBIA, SC – When federal investigators inspected a West Columbia used auto dealer, they found the employer’s pay practices violated wage laws, leading to the recovery of more than $64,566 in back wages and liquidated damages for 24 workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found B & L Foreign Car LLC – operating as B & L Auto Sales – paid employees straight-time rates for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, rather than the time-and-one-half required. Investigators also discovered the employer had misclassified some workers as independent contractors and, in fact, led the workers to wrongly believe classification as a contractor or employee was optional.

B & L’s actions violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Misclassifying workers as independent contractors denies them the minimum wage and overtime protections they are due. It also has consequences regarding Social Security and other benefits,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “The outcome of our investigation at B & L Auto Sales should remind other employees in the industry that ignoring their legal obligations comes at a high cost. The employer may also find it becomes harder to retain and recruit workers they desperately need.”

View an online FLSA guide that outlines the difference between employees and independent contractors or view this page to see how FLSA might apply to the auto industry. A compliance assistance toolkit with many resources for the auto industry is also available.

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 can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) confidentially, and calls can be answered in more than 200 languages.

MOBILE, AL – The illegal pay practices of a Louisville, Kentucky, staffing agency that provides aviation maintenance and repair workers to airlines nationwide shortchanged workers in Mobile, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that TechFlyte LLC – contracted by VT Mobile Aerospace to furnish workers – paid time-and-a-half for overtime at illegally reduced overtime pay rates. The employer also labeled a portion of employees’ wages as a per diem to obscure the true rate of pay. TechFlyte’s actions violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and denied 129 workers all of their legally earned wages.

The division’s investigation led to the recovery of $269,038 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, totaling $538,076 for the TechFlyte workers assigned to VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering.

The department also assessed $63,196 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations. The division found identical violations related to the payment of per diem wages by TechFlyte LLC in Kansas City, Missouri, investigation in June 2020. In that case, the division recovered $18,755 in back wages for 22 workers.

“Using per diem pay practices to avoid or reduce overtime owed to employees is illegal,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “When per diem payments are applied to pay as a screen, it’s a scheme that defrauds workers and taxpayers, and hurts law-abiding companies.”

“This practice negatively impacts workers and makes it hard to retain specialized technicians doing vital work for our nation,” Stripling said. “In particular, in the event of workplace injury and lay-offs, per diem workers may not be protected. Retirement, health insurance, paid leave for illness or vacation may not be available for them either.”                                 

For information about laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Calls can be answered confidentially in over 200 languages. The Wage and Hour Division has a number of resources for workers and employers, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by Wage and Hour Division.

BUFFALO, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $106,623 in back wages and liquidated damages for 37 cashiers and cooks employed at three Pita Gourmet locations in Erie and Niagara counties after its investigation found the operator paid some employees cash off the books, paid straight time for overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek and failed to combine hours worked by employees at multiple locations.

The division found Mahfouz Inc., the restaurants’ operator, also kept no daily or weekly records of hours worked by employees and falsified work hours for overtime. The violations affected employees at company restaurants in East Amherst, Niagara Falls and Williamsville.

In addition to the back wages and damages recovered, the department assessed $8,988 in civil money penalties to resolve violations of the overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

“Food service employees are essential workers and entitled to the essential protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act. As food service industry employers struggle to find the people to fill the jobs needed to stay competitive, they should consider that retaining and recruiting workers is more difficult when employers disrespect workers’ rights and deny them their full wages,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Patrick DeForest in Buffalo, New York. “We encourage employers and workers with questions about their rights and responsibilities to contact us.”

In fiscal year 2021, more than 4,200 Wage and Hour Division investigations recovered more than $34.7 million for more than 29,000 workers in the food service industry.                    

For information about laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions, regardless of immigration status, and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

The Wage and Hour Division has a number of resources online for workers and employers, including a restaurant compliance toolkit. 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.

WASHINGTON – Despite their critical role in the economy, farmworkers too often face unpaid wages, unsafe transportation to and from worksites, and substandard housing conditions.

The U.S. Department of Labor will mark National Farmworker Awareness Week, from March 26 to April 2, with a broad effort by its Wage and Hour Division to improve compliance among the nation’s agricultural employers. The effort includes a virtual agricultural seminar, “Nourishing Equity and Cultivating Compliance,” from April 5 to 7, offering sessions about federal laws governing employment and their enforcement, for industry employers, workers, farm labor contractors and other stakeholders. The division’s regional offices will also present a series of related outreach events across the country as part of the effort.

Register to attend Nourishing Equity and Cultivating Compliance seminar.

Specifically, the seminar will review the Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act, agriculture and child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as H-2A and Field Sanitation requirements. Topics such as equity, retaliation and human trafficking in the agricultural sector will also be discussed.

Earlier this month, the Wage and Hour Division published resources to help combat retaliation against workers who assert their rights and, in January, the agency announced its commitment of resources, collaboration with law enforcement agencies and outreach to combat labor trafficking.

“National Farmworker Awareness Week should remind all of us of the essential role these workers play in feeding us, our families and our communities,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “It also serves to inspire us to expand our outreach and strengthen our enforcement efforts to ensure all agricultural workers receive the wages they are due and are protected from retaliation for exercising their rights.” 

In fiscal year 2021, the department recovered $8.4 million in back wages for more than 10,300 agricultural employees and assessed employers with more than $7.3 million in civil monetary penalties.

For more information about farmworker rights, how to file a complaint, MSPA, H-2A and other laws enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Calls can be answered confidentially in over 200 languages, regardless of immigration status. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including an Agricultural Compliance Assistance Toolkit.

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