WILDWOOD, FL – In urgent care centers, workdays may be long and hard. For clinicians who split their hours of work between two jointly owned central Florida facilities, their employers made the work a bit harder by failing to pay them all of their legally earned wages.

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found 441 Urgent Care LLC and Santos Primary Care Centers PLLC – which share common ownership – failed to combine hours employees worked at both care centers when determining when overtime was due. As a result, the employers failed to pay overtime when employees’ hours totaled more than 40 in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, the employers did not keep accurate records, another FLSA violation.

The two primary care centers paid $41,509 in back wages to 27 clinicians.

“Failing to combine the hours worked by employees at multiple establishments denies essential workers their proper wages and also gives the employer an unfair advantage over law-abiding competitors,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “We encourage all employers to review their pay practices and to contact us with any questions they have to avoid violations like those found in this investigation.”

Based in Summerfield, the employer operates one 441 Urgent Care Center clinic in Wildwood and three Santos Primary Care Center clinics in The Villages. 

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’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.

CARLISLE, PA – Ignoring lump sum bonus payments made to essential supermarket workers during the pandemic when calculating their overtime rates led to federal wage violations by a large Northeast supermarket chain that shortchanged more than 3,300 workers in four states, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has determined.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Giant Company LLC of Carlisle increased workers’ hourly rates $2 per hour from March 2020 through May 2020 and calculated overtime correctly. In May 2020, the employer decreased the hourly wage by $2 and began paying lump sum bonuses instead. When they did, they failed to include those bonus amounts in workers’ regular rates when calculating overtime pay due, resulting in violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Excluding bonus amounts from the calculation resulted in Giant paying overtime at rates lower than those the law requires. The employer paid lump sum bonuses in June 2020, October 2020 and February 2021.

The investigation led to the division’s recovery of $165,653 in back wages for 3,314 workers at 192 stores in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. The Giant Company LLC operates food stores under the Giant, Foodsource and Martin’s brands. 

“Grocery workers are among our lowest-paid essential workers, and deserve to take home every penny of the wages they earn,” said Wage and Hour Division Wilkes-Barre District Office Director Al Gristina. “Shifting pay from the hourly rate to a bonus does not mean the employer can exclude it when calculating overtime. The Wage and Hour Division offers extensive educational materials to employers so that they understand their responsibilities clearly, and we invite them to contact us directly with any questions they may have. Trained professionals are available to answer questions from employers and employees alike, confidentially, in more than 200 languages.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the agency, 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. 

WESTMINSTER, MD – A Westminster healthcare management company, a large employer in long-term care and rehabilitation, could have shown more care when paying 256 essential workers at four facilities in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Transitions Healthcare LLC violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay required overtime to employees who worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The employer violated the law by failing to include earned bonuses in the calculation of overtime pay, including sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses and bonuses for working extra shifts. Excluding these amounts resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.

Transitions Healthcare LLC will pay back wages to workers at the following locations:

“Transitions Healthcare shortchanged essential workers at a time when people employed in the healthcare industry have faced risks to themselves and their families,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Had this employer properly incorporated all bonuses paid, they would have paid these workers their full wages and avoided violations. We encourage any employers with questions to reach out to us for help. Violations like those in this case can be avoided.”

Based in Westminster, Transitions Healthcare LLC manages certain operations of nursing home, assisted living and adult day care facilities, and continuing care retirement communities in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the agency, 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.

PENSACOLA, FL – Among some of the nation’s lowest-paid workers, home healthcare aides remain especially dependent on their employers to pay them all of their legally earned wages. When an employer shortchanges these workers, the impact hits employees and their families hard as it did those employed by a Pensacola-based home healthcare provider.

A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation of the Chris Lewis Agency LLC found that the employer failed to pay employees working at two 24-hour care homes for all of the hours they worked. Employees working 16-hour days were paid for only 12 or 13 hours. By doing so, the agency violated overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division also found Chris Lewis’ failure to maintain accurate daily and weekly records of their employees’ work hours violated FLSA recordkeeping requirements.

The investigation led the division to recover $93,932 in back wages for seven workers.

“When employers fail to meet their obligations to pay essential workers all the wages they have earned, it hits our lowest wage-earners the hardest, significantly impacting their ability to earn a living,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Other employers in this industry should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own pay practices, ensure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like those found in this case.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’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.

GOLDEN VALLEY, MN – Low-wage workers often do much of the essential work in our communities, and women, immigrants and people of color often hold those jobs. The healthcare industry employs many of the nation’s low-wage workers, which underscores the importance of a federal court action and a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation related to a Golden Valley home healthcare provider.

On Aug. 5, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright for the District of Minnesota approved a settlement agreement between the department and Alliance HHC & Nursing Service LLC to resolve Fair Labor Standards Act violations the department found in an investigation. The agreement requires Alliance to pay $241,582 in back wages and $241,582 in liquidated damages to 82 home healthcare workers it employs.

The investigation determined Alliance HHC & Nursing Service LLC and its owner Robin Nyangena failed to pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, as the law requires. Instead, the employer continued to pay workers straight-time rates, regardless of the number of hours they worked each week. The home healthcare workers provide skilled nursing, private duty, personal aide and therapy services.

“The essential care that home healthcare workers provide helps their clients maintain their dignity and remain in their homes,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division District Director Kristin Tout in Minneapolis. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring essential employees receive every dollar of their hard-earned wages and that employers abide by the federal wage laws. Other employers should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”

The division recently launched the Essential Workers, Essential Protections initiative to ensure that workers know about the workplace laws that protect them – and how to contact the division to get the help they need.

Learn more about wage rules for healthcare workers.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

COURT NO: Walsh v. Alliance HHC & Nursing Service LLC, Robin Nyangena

0:20-cv-01259 WMW-KMM

SHAFTER, CA – U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that while employees at four Central California restaurants worked hard to ensure customers enjoyed their experience, their employer failed to ensure they received all the wages they had legally earned.

The division’s review of La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos’ payroll practices revealed the employer paid workers at straight-time hourly rates regardless of the number of hours they worked each workweek. By doing so, La Fonda violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements when it failed to pay overtime wages for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. Instead, the employer paid workers for their first 40 hours each week on the payroll, by check, but paid for additional hours separately, at straight time rates, often in unrecorded cash. The employer also failed to maintain complete time and payroll records, also a violation of the FLSA.

Following the investigation, La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos will pay $200,682 in back wages to 49 employees, including cooks and cashiers. The division also assessed $23,265 in civil penalties to address the willful nature of the violations.

“Restaurant industry workers are among the lowest-paid essential employees in our nation and are often unaware of their most basic rights,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Patricia Canites in Sacramento, California. “Violations like these are all too common and the U.S. Department of Labor is committed to using every enforcement tool available to achieve compliance from employers who willfully violate the law, hurt workers and their families, and take an unlawful advantage of their competitors that abide by the law.”

La Fonda Taquería y Mariscos has restaurants in Shafter and Wasco, and two in Bakersfield.

The Wage and Hour 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.

Read this news release En Español.

PHILADELPHIA – A North Carolina farm labor contractor that hired temporary workers to pick and pack melons in southern Delaware violated federal law when it employed them in jobs not listed in its application to hire foreign guest workers, failed to provide required kitchen facilities or meals, paid insufficient wages and housed workers in overcrowded living quarters, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has found.

Division investigators found Jose Gracia Harvesting Inc., based in Four Oaks, violated several provisions of the H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program, which allows employers to hire temporary, nonimmigrant workers for seasonal agricultural work.

The investigation led the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges to approve a settlement in which Garcia paid $13,996 in back wages to 47 workers to resolve the wage violations. The contractor has also paid a $6,861 civil penalty.

Specifically, the division found Gracia failed to:

• Comply with H-2A recruitment requirements by employing workers in supervisor, cook and bus driver positions when the job order listed only farmworkers and laborers positons.
• Provide kitchen facilities or meals to the workers as required. Instead, the contractor required workers to purchase their meals and the average daily cost of meals exceeded the maximum amount allowed.
• Pay the wage rate as offered. The contractor paid a piece rate instead of an hourly rate. As a result, total wages did not always meet the required minimum rate of $11.66 per hour.
• Keep accurate records of employees’ hours and earnings.
• Provide or secure housing for workers as required. The contractor housed workers in an overcrowded motel that lacked sufficient beds for the workers.

“Farmworkers are among the nation’s most essential workers and unfortunately some of the most vulnerable to unfair and unsafe labor practices,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jim Cain in Philadelphia. “This investigation underscores the department’s commitment to using any and all enforcement strategies at our disposal to protect the rights of these employees, and to level the playing field for employers who obey the law. Other employers should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own practices to make sure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like those found in this case.”

Jose Gracia Harvesting Inc. contracts with Melon 1, one of the nation’s largest melon brokers. Once harvested, buyers ship and distribute the melons throughout the country.

For more information about the FLSA, the H-2A program and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’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.

MOUNT DORA, FL – Diners at Fiesta Grande Mexican Grill locations in Mount Dora and Orange City never knew that the restaurants’ operator was sharing tips intended for servers with cooks in violation of federal laws regulating the use of money in tip pools.

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Fiesta Grande Mexican Grill Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by including cooks in its tip pool illegally. When an employer takes credit for workers’ tips toward its minimum wage obligation to those workers, non-tipped employees, like cooks, cannot participate in a tip-sharing agreement.

A review of the restaurants’ records led to the division’s recovery of $58,074 for 45 workers denied their rightful wages.

“Restaurant servers worked hard to keep their employers’ businesses open amid pandemic risks,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “By misusing its tip pool, Fiesta Grande’s operator shortchanged its tipped workers who depend on tips for good service and hard work to provide for themselves and their families. The U.S. Department of Labor will act to enforce the law and ensure workers are paid all of their legally earned wages.”

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, including compliance assistance toolkits, contact the agency’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.

Read this news release En Español.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM –The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $284,219 in back wages for 163 employees of Pappas Restaurants Inc. after an investigation found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found the operator of Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen included workers employed as oyster shuckers in its tip pool improperly. When an employer takes a credit for workers’ tips toward its obligation to pay them the federal minimum wage, only tipped workers may be included in tip pools. Illegally including non-tipped workers in this tip pool resulted in the division denying the employer’s use of that “tip credit,” meaning that every tipped worker was due the full minimum wage. The division also determined the employer calculated overtime pay incorrectly, resulting in additional violations.

“Restaurant industry employees are among the hardest working in our economy, and we must ensure they receive every penny of the wages they have earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Evelyn Sanchez in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “The U.S. Department of Labor remains committed to protecting the wages of U.S. workers and maintaining a level playing field for employers who play by the rules. Other restaurants should use the outcome of this case as an opportunity to review their own pay practices, make sure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like those found in this case.”

Based in Houston, Pappas Restaurants Inc. is a family owned enterprise that operates branded restaurants in eight states including Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pappasito’s Cantina, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Pappas Seafood House, Pappas Bar-B-Q, Pappas Burger, Yia Yia Mary’s Mediterranean Kitchen, Dot Coffee Shop and Pappas Delta Blues.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’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.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Employers may request that workers arrive before their shifts begin for briefings but workers must be paid for that time, a lesson that a New Mexico community college learned after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $70,707 in back wages for 71 security guards at Central New Mexico Community College following an investigation that uncovered violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements. The division found that the college required security guards to arrive at work 15 minutes before their shifts for a briefing but systemically failed to record or pay for that time, which led to overtime violations. Failure to record this work time also resulted in the employer being cited for a recordkeeping violation.

“Employers who require employees to show up early or stay at work after their shift has ended for briefings are legally required to pay them for that time,” said Wage and Hour District Director Evelyn Sanchez in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “As essential workers, security guards deserve to be paid for the hours they work. The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to protecting the wages of all workers and ensuring that employers can compete on a level playing field.”

Based in Albuquerque, Central New Mexico Community College is the largest community college in New Mexico, and has nine locations in the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho metro areas.

 For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’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.