WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the extension of the effective date of a final rule to rescind an earlier rule, “Joint Employer Status under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” that took effect in March 2020. The original Sept. 28, 2021, effective date of the rescission is now Oct. 5, 2021.

On March 12, 2021, the department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to rescind the March 2020 Joint Employer Rule. After reviewing the comments submitted in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the department decided to finalize the rescission of the rule. The department believes that the rule narrowed the test for vertical joint employment improperly and conflicted with decades of department interpretation, the text of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and congressional intent.

The rescission will result in the removal and reserving of part 791 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations in its entirety. The department will continue to consider legal and policy issues relating to FLSA joint employment before determining whether alternative regulatory or sub-regulatory guidance is appropriate.

The FLSA requires covered employers to pay employees at least the federal minimum wage for every hour they work and overtime compensation at not less than one-and-one-half times their regular rate of pay for every hour they work over 40 in a workweek. A strong joint employer standard is critical because FLSA responsibilities and liability for worker protections do not apply to a business that is not the employee’s employer.

For more information about the FLSA or other laws it enforces, visit the Wage and Hour Division, or call toll-free 1-866-4US-WAGE.

SWEDESBORO, NJ – JP Technology Inc. operates a hafnium crystal bar production facility in Swedesboro 24 hours a day. At the facility, many employees work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. A recent federal investigation found the employer failed to pay some of these employees any overtime pay, a violation of federal wage laws.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that JP Technology violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it paid straight time for all hours worked even when employees worked more than 40 hours in a single workweek. The law requires overtime pay for hours employees work beyond 40 in a workweek. The department’s investigation led to the recovery of $114,656 in back wages and liquidated damages for seven employees.

During the investigation, investigators observed that the company exposed employees to chemical hazards in the workplace. The agency informed the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which are conducting separate investigations.

“All too often, employers in the manufacturing sector subject their employees to substandard working conditions, including failure to pay workers for all the wages they are lawfully owed,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Charlene Rachor in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. “When employers don’t pay overtime as required – especially when they take advantage of individuals working more than 80 hours per week – they violate the law, hurt their employees and gain an unfair competitive advantage over employers that play by the rules.”

Headquartered in Jiangsu, China, JP Technology in Swedesboro is the company’s sole U.S. production facility.

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.

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.

TAFTON, PA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found the owner of two Pike County companies violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by denying 65 workers their rightfully earned wages, resulting in the recovery of nearly $120,000 in back wages and damages.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Mohammad Tahir – owner and manager of Promised Land Truck Stop in Tafton and Whistle Stop convenience store in Greentown – violated FLSA minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping requirements, resulting in a total of $59,690 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages owed to his employees. The division recovered $42,265 in back wages for 47 Promised Land Truck Stop workers and $17,424 in back wages for 18 Whistle Stop employees, plus an equal amount in damages.

The employer failed to pay workers at the Tafton location for time spent counting cash drawers and completing reports, and took deductions from workers’ pay for cash drawer shortages. By doing so, the employer paid workers less than the federal minimum wage. Tahir also did not pay any overtime when employees worked over 40 in a workweek, and did not maintain payroll and time records as required. Similarly, employees at the Greentown store were paid straight time with no overtime pay when they worked over 40 in a workweek. Investigators also found the employer paid several workers identified as assistant managers a fixed salary, with no overtime pay, in violation of the law. The employer also deducted pay from the assistant managers’ salaries when they worked fewer than 50 hours, and again failed to retain required records.

After the investigation, the department filed a complaint against the employer in court to resolve the violations. In a summary judgment, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania affirmed that the employer violated law and owed the amounts the department sought.

“The wages recovered for these low-wage workers will help them pay rent and put food on the table for their families,” said Wage and Hour District Director Alfonso Gristina in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. “The U.S. Department of Labor is determined to ensure that employers follow the law and create a level playing field for those competitors who pay their workers all of the wages they have rightfully earned.”

“Employers have a legal responsibility to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The U.S. Department of Labor continues to pursue appropriate and effective legal remedies, including filing suit in federal court, to ensure employees are paid for all their hard work and employers who violate the law come into compliance,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia.

Shalimar Distributors LLC operates as Promised Land Truck Stop and TAFS Corp. operates as Whistle Stop. Mohammad Tahir owns and manages both enterprises.

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.

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.

SELBYVILLE, DE – A federal court has ordered a Selbyville business operator to pay $300,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 16 workers – some of whom worked 75 hours or more a week for a flat salary while the business kept no time records of the hours they worked. 

Following a U.S Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation, the department filed a complaint alleging that APS Market & Grill LLC – a combined restaurant, grocery store and butcher shop that operates as Taqueria La Sierra – violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The department had determined that the employer paid some of its workers on a flat salary basis and did not require them to clock in or out or record their time.

The employer paid employees a fixed salary for all hours worked, and by doing so failed to pay overtime as required when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.  

The consent judgment approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware requires the employer and its owner to pay the back wages and liquidated damages and prohibits them from violating the FLSA in the future. In addition to paying back wages and damages, the employer was also assessed a $5,000 civil money penalty for the willfulness of their violations.

“For workers in the restaurant industry, basic labor rights like minimum wage and overtime are being denied and hard-earned wages are out of reach,” said Wage and Hour District Director James Cain in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “The consent judgment will ensure that these workers receive all of the wages they legally earned and that Taqueria La Sierra is no longer gaining an unfair advantage over other restaurant employers in the area.”

“This judgment sends a clear message to employers that failure to pay employees their rightfully earned wages will not be tolerated,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia.

View the complaint and consent judgment. 

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.

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.

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HOUSTON – With Houston-area home sales setting records, insulation installers are working hard to meet demand and endure hard, strenuous labor and discomfort caused by contact with insulation materials. For 46 workers at JVA Insulation Inc., the work felt a bit harder because their employer failed to pay them all their legally earned wages.

A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation determined that JVA Insulation violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when the company:

• Failed to pay overtime to workers when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Instead, the employer paid workers on a per-square foot basis, regardless of the number of hours they worked per week.
• Reduced an employee’s pay below the federal minimum wage with illegal deductions for lost or broken tools.
• Failed to maintain accurate records of employees’ hours of work.

JVA Insulation will pay $150,080 in back wages to 46 workers.

“These essential workers overcome heat and many other factors to do their jobs and their employer has an obligation to pay them fairly for the wages they legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Robin Mallett in Houston. “The Wage and Hour Division offers employers and workers many resources for understanding compliance issues, and will speak confidentially to anyone with questions. We will also hold employers who fail to comply with the law accountable when they shortchange employees for the work performed.”

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.

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.

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AUBURN, AL – Following an investigation and federal court order, the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $26,496 in back wages and liquidated damages from a personal injury law firm in Auburn, Alabama, that failed to pay overtime to 42 workers.

In December 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Eastern Division issued a default judgment, affirming the findings of the department’s Wage and Hour Division that Slocumb Law Firm LLC and owner Michael W. Slocumb failed to pay the workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. In response, Slocumb filed a motion to set aside the judgement. They later withdrew it, and the department sent a demand letter requiring payment for the wages that the workers were legally owed.

Investigators also determined Slocumb failed to keep accurate records of hours worked for workers paid on a salary basis. The firm’s action violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The court ordered the firm and its owner to pay $13,248 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

“The court’s action shows that no one is above the law. Employers must pay employees all the wages they’ve legally earned, including overtime when they work over 40 in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kenneth Stripling in Birmingham, Alabama. “The Wage and Hour Division will use every avenue, including the courts, to protect workers’ rights and ensure they receive the wages they are lawfully owed. Employers should contact the agency and speak with a Wage and Hour professional to avoid these violations and ensure compliance with federal wage laws.”

In addition to three Alabama locations, Slocumb’s law offices are located in Baltimore; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; Charleston, West Virginia; and in Jackson and Gulfport, Mississippi.

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.

PHILADELPHIA – The operator of a popular Fishtown bar and bottle shop that prides itself on offering Philadelphia’s largest selection of beer and wine appeared to be less focused on paying its bartenders and servers as the law requires, a federal investigation found and a consent judgement entered in a U.S. District Court confirmed.

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that BHMK Enterprises LLC – operator of Bottle Bar East – violated the minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division determined the employer failed to pay bartenders and servers any cash wages, causing them to work for tips only, and required workers to attend quarterly staff cleaning meetings, but did not pay front-of-house employees for the time they spent there. These actions violated the FLSA minimum wage requirements.

In addition, investigators found Bottle Bar East paid back-of-house employees straight-time wages for all the hours that they worked, including those in excess of 40 hours worked in a single workweek. The law requires overtime pay for hours employees work beyond 40 in a workweek. The employer also failed to pay overtime to front-of-house servers and bartenders. After the investigation, the department filed a complaint against the company in court to resolve the violations.

“Restaurant workers are among the most vulnerable in the service industries,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jim Cain in Philadelphia. “Like all workers, they deserve to be paid every penny they have earned. The Wage and Hour Division will continue to hold employers accountable. Other employers should use the outcome of this investigation, and this lawsuit, as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to make sure they comply with the law, and avoid costly violations like those in this case.”

The Department of Labor filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Pennsylvania in April 2020, alleging that Bottle Bar East and its owners willfully violated the minimum wage overtime provisions of the FLSA through their unlawful pay practices.  After months of litigation, the parties resolved this matter when Defendants agreed to pay the full amount of back wages, an equal amount of liquidated damages, and civil money penalties.  On August 31, the Hon. Berle Schiller entered a consent judgment ordering BHMK Enterprises LLC to pay $246,457.99 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 73 bartenders, servers, cooks, and dishwashers. The court also ordered the employer to pay $25,729 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations.

“Bottle Bar East stole wages from its workers, harming them and their families and gaining an unfair advantage over employers who play by the rules,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia. “The U.S. Department of Labor will enforce the law to recover hard-earned wages for workers and to ensure a level playing field for law-abiding business owners.”

Bottle Bar East also failed to maintain payroll records for servers and bartenders and had incomplete records for the back-of-house cooks and dishwashers, and did not display the FLSA required poster.

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.

ORLANDO, FL – Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor has investigated the pay practices of a Sanford heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor eight times and found violations in six of its inquiries – leading to the recovery of $155,865 in back wages for more than 440 workers.

Following the ninth investigation of Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc. by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ordered a resolution against the employer in a consent judgement. The court’s action led to the division’s recovery of $334,307 in back wages for 212 workers.

Investigators found Del-Air paid a piece-rate to installers regardless of how many hours they worked. The employer also failed to pay overtime to a warehouse manager when due. By failing to pay overtime when employees worked more than 40 hours in a week, and failing to include earned bonuses in the overtime rate, the employer violated Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirements.  The division also found that the employer did not record the start and end of employees’ workdays accurately, a FLSA recordkeeping violation. Due to the employer’s history of violations the division assessed $82,616 in civil money penalties for the violations found on the most recent investigation.

Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration operates establishments in Sanford, Clermont, Melbourne, Jacksonville, Tampa, Bradenton, Fort Myers and Kissimmee. The company performs installations on new residential construction, existing residential and commercial structures. 

“Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc. has repeatedly ignored its responsibility to pay its workers all of their hard-earned wages and routinely broken the law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Our investigation and the court’s action recovered wages illegally denied to more than 200 workers and resulted in significant penalties for the employer.”

“We invite workers who believe they are not being paid legally and employers who are uncertain about their responsibilities to contact the Wage and Hour Division,” De Jesús added.

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.

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.

CROWLEY, LA – A coronavirus-related federal whistleblower investigation prompted a referral to the U.S. Department of Labor and an investigation that recovered $138,629 in back wages for 100 employees of a southwest Louisiana seafood processor.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Acadia Processors LLC violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements when the employer paid only straight time to employees when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The employer, who paid employees on a piece rate basis, must also include incentives and bonuses in the calculation of overtime pay. The company distributes seafood, mainly crawfish, and other Cajun food products from its facilities in Crowley.

“Our investigation found a significant number of workers were being denied their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “These violations occurred amid the pandemic when food industry workers put themselves at risk to support the economy and supply U.S. consumers. Ensuring that these workers receive the pay they earned is among the division’s top priorities.”

In June 2020, the Center for Migrant Rights filed a whistleblower complaint with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on behalf of two former Acadia Processors’ workers who tested positive for coronavirus and allege the company fired them after they raised concerns about safety protocols at housing provided by the employer. During OSHA’s ongoing investigation, the agency made the Wage and Hour Division aware of Family First Coronavirus Act irregularities.

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 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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RAYVILLE, LA – Like many in the addiction treatment industry, Rayville Recovery employees work long hours – beyond regular shifts and on weekends – to help individuals overcome their drug and alcohol dependence. A recent federal investigation found Rayville failed to pay some of these essential workers legally when they worked overtime. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Rayville Recovery violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements when the employer failed to pay six workers time-and-one-half for overtime hours as the law requires. The employer also failed to provide complete payroll records, another FLSA violation.

The investigation led to the division’s recovery of $23,510 in back wages for six workers.

“Essential workers who provide healthcare services supply critical support to those most in need, and employers must pay these workers as legally required when they work long hours,” said Wage and Hour District Director Troy Mouton in New Orleans. “Employees who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime protections must receive overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.”

Rayville Recovery has 85 employees at two facilities in Louisiana. The employer paid all back wages due and agreed to comply with the law in the future.

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.

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.