CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces the labor provisions of the federal H-2A temporary agricultural workers program to prevent employers from exploiting temporary, nonimmigrant workers hired for seasonal agricultural work and from gaining an unfair competitive advantage over law-abiding employers.

An investigation of a Campbellsville tobacco and hemp farm offers an example of why this enforcement is necessary and how attempting to impede an investigation resulted in the division debarring the farm’s operator from participating in the program for three years.

An investigation by the division of a farm operated by David Hunt found that the Hunt Farm failed to reimburse H-2A workers for travel expenses they incurred returning to their home countries, as the law requires. Investigators also found the employer failed to provide work-related contracts to employees, failed to pay prevailing wages and failed to offer at least three-fourths the hours promised in the workers’ contracts, all of which the H-2A program requires. In addition, the employer attempted to impede the division’s investigation by unduly delaying access to workers, records, and housing, and by providing false information.

Following the investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges approved a settlement ordering Hunt to pay $25,905 in back wages to 46 workers to resolve the violations. Hunt is also required to pay a $13,281 civil penalty and is debarred from participation in the H-2A program for three years.

“These workers, who are away from their families for months at a time, deserve to be paid every penny they rightfully earn,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville, Kentucky. “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.”

For more information about the H-2A and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas hospital that required workers to complete necessary paperwork without pay after their daily shifts ended also manipulated employee time cards to avoid paying overtime, a federal investigation has found.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center – a subsidiary of Universal Health Services Inc. – violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees for all hours that they worked. The employer also willfully manipulated workers’ timecards in an attempt to avoid paying overtime by reducing the total number of work hours recorded.

Following the investigation, the division recovered $145,402 in back wages for 23 employees. The division also assessed Centennial with $19,090 in penalties for its willful violations and cited the employer for their failure to maintain accurate records of employees’ hours worked.

“Workers must be paid all of their hard-earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Higinio Ramos in Las Vegas. “Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center shortchanged their workers and made it more difficult for them to provide for themselves and their families. The employer also gained an unfair competitive advantage over law-abiding employers. Other employers should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to evaluate their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”

Universal Health Services Inc. – one of the nation’s largest healthcare management companies – owns and operates Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center. Based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, UHS manages 400 acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities and ambulatory centers across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.K.

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.

KEY WEST, FL – Business owners must understand their legal responsibilities to pay overtime when it comes to their workers, as well as any workers employed through staffing companies, to avoid costly violations, a lesson learned by the operators of three Key West restaurants. 

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations found overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act when Fish Dance Inc., Thirsty Mermaid LLC, and Antonia’s KW LLC, operators of Little Pearl, Thirsty Mermaid, and Antonia’s Key West respectively, failed to pay overtime to workers employed through a staffing company, as well as their own workers, when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The investigation also found Antonia’s paid one employee a flat salary with no overtime pay, resulting in additional overtime violations when the employee worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. 

Paradise Hospitality Solutions LLC, a Key West staffing agency, was used by all three restaurants. When workers are jointly employed by staffing companies and their clients, both are responsible for compliance and both are liable for back wages, liquidated damages, and civil penalties if there are violations of Fair Labor Standards Act violations. 

The department recovered $162,310 in back wages for 45 workers in the three restaurants to resolve the violations. 

“Essential workers deserve to take home every penny of their hard-earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Daniel Cronin, in Miami. “Leased or temporary employees are entitled to the same workplace rights as all other employees. We remain committed to ensuring that all workers get paid the wages they have earned, and to enforcing the law so that employers compete on a level playing field.”

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.

OLYPHANT, PA – A federal court has entered a consent judgment resolving a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit filed after an investigation found that an Olyphant home healthcare agency failed to pay 98 nurses overtime wages they legally earned – including payment for ancillary work and work-related travel – in violation of federal law.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in Scranton has ordered Revolutionary Home Health Inc. to pay $66,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 98 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Revolutionary Home Health must also pay $8,000 in civil penalties the department assessed given the repeat nature of the violations and the employer’s reckless disregard of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found Revolutionary Home Health failed to do the following:

• Pay 98 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses required overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Instead, the agency paid employees on a “per-unit” basis and set a dollar amount per patient, with a different dollar amount assigned to certain types of visits, regardless of how many hours these employees worked.
• Pay employees for time spent performing duties outside of patient visits, such as attending meetings, getting supplies at the employer’s office, completing reports and traveling between clients and facilities.
• Include bonuses in the calculation when determining workers’ overtime rates. Excluding these amounts resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.
• Maintain accurate time records. The employer failed to record the number of hours employees worked on a weekly or daily basis. Records also excluded time spent attending meetings, getting supplies at the employer’s office, contacting patients outside of work hours, completing reports and traveling between clients and facilities. 

“Failing to pay employees all the wages they have rightfully earned not only harms the workers and their families, it also puts law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage,” said Wage and Hour District Director Alfonso Gristina in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. “We encourage other employers in the home healthcare industry to evaluate their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like these.”

“This judgment sends a clear message to employers that failure to pay employees their rightfully earned wages comes at a high cost,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III in Philadelphia.

View the complaint and consent judgment. 

Revolutionary Home Health Inc. provides home care to elderly, adults, expectant mothers and children. Based in Olyphant, the agency has branch offices in Fort Washington and Allentown.

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. 

GAINESVILLE, FL – Roofing workers face hard work in hot weather, the risks of working at dangerous heights and, for 30 employees of a Gainesville contractor, concerns about not getting paid all of the wages they legally earned.

During a recent U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation of Perry Roofing Inc. – which operates as Perry Roofing Contractors – the division found the employer violated overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The division determined that Perry Roofing failed to include production-related and profit-sharing bonuses in the calculation when determining workers’ overtime rates. By doing so, the employer paid workers less for their overtime hours than the law requires. Perry also failed to record start and stop times for workers paid by piece-rate.

Investigators also found the employer illegally banked regular and overtime earnings for workers recruited from Gainesville’s Santa Fe Bridge Community Work Release Center. The division found that the employer paid the release center minimum wage for the employees’ first 40 hours worked, and then withheld the difference between the workers’ hourly rate and the minimum wage rate, plus payment for any overtime hours. Perry then allowed workers to draw from the overtime bank as needed in the form of gift cards or other advances. The law requires employers to pay workers for all the hours they have worked on their regular payday.

The investigation resulted in the recovery of $31,673 in back wages for 30 workers.

“Employers must pay their workers all of the wages they have earned. This case shows the Wage and Hour Division’s commitment to respect and protect workers, and to ensure that happens,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús, in Orlando, Florida. “We encourage other employers to use this investigation’s outcome as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”

The division offers numerous compliance assistance toolkits to help construction industry employers learn about their obligations under federal law.

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.

DURHAM, NC – Federal wage laws ensure that government contractors fulfill their legal obligations, among them paying required wage rates and fringe benefits to workers employed with federal funds to provide services to the government. When contractors violate these laws, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division acts.

In April 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Perkins Management Services Co. a contract to provide food service staffing at the agency’s cafeteria on the Research Triangle Park campus in Durham.

After a recent investigation, an Administrative Law Judge issued an order to debar Perkins Management Services Co., a Charlotte food service staffing provider, for failing to meet its obligations to workers at an EPA cafeteria in Durham. The action prevents the employer from bidding on federal contracts for 3 years because of its violations of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards and the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Acts.

Perkins Management Services will also pay $27,687 in back wages to 14 workers to resolve violations of wage requirements found by Wage and Hour Division investigators.

Investigators determined that Perkins Management violated the SCA by paying two cooks hourly wage rates lower than the prevailing wage rates required for their occupations. During the first months of the contract, the employer also failed to pay the cooks required fringe benefits.

Investigators also found Perkins Management failed to provide paid vacation to all eligible workers on the contract, and paid overtime at rates lower than those the law requires.

“Prevailing wage standards provide a safety net of fair wages to workers, their families and communities, and enable local contractors and subcontractors to compete on a level playing field,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Taxpayers have a right to expect that federal contractors – who are paid with tax dollars – will comply with the law, and the Labor Department will not allow companies to abuse that trust.”

For more information about the 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.

TAMPA, FL – Restaurant workers who prepare and serve sushi take great care to provide their customers a great experience. A recent investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found the operator of one Tampa sushi restaurant less than careful in how it paid wages to 12 kitchen workers and a manager.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered $150,749 in back wages and liquidated damages for workers to resolve minimum wage and overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act by KS Japanese Food Service LLC, which operates as Matoi Sushi on N. Dale Mabry Highway.

Investigators determined Matoi Sushi paid workers flat salaries, regardless of the number of hours they worked each workweek. By doing so, the employer violated overtime laws when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Minimum wage violations occurred when those flat salaries failed to cover all the hours employees worked at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Some workers took home less than $6 per hour. In addition, investigators found a kitchen manager was due overtime back wages because the worker’s salary of $230 per week fell far short of the required minimum of $684 per week to qualify for the overtime exemption for salaried managers.

“These workers rely on receiving all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “Employers may elect to pay workers on any schedule they choose – weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or any other timeframe. They must, however, still track hours weekly to determine when overtime is due. They must also understand that paying workers a fixed salary does not excuse them automatically from paying overtime. We encourage anyone with questions to call us, confidentially, to speak with a trained wage and hour professional.”

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the law regardless of workers’ immigration status, and can speak 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.

JACKSON, MS – While some employers’ misunderstanding of federal wage and hour laws may lead to violations, there are others whose actions show they intended to shortchange workers deliberately and, by doing so, gain an unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors.

A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found CCSI Inc. – a Jackson security and patrol service – violated minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping laws. The willful nature of the violations led the division to expand the investigation to include the past three years instead of the usual two-year timeframe.

The investigation of CSSI Inc. found the employer:

• Disregarded minimum wage laws by docking workers’ pay to cover the employer’s expenses for uniforms.
• Paid some security guards hourly rates for their first 40 hours of work each week, and continued to pay for any overtime hours at workers’ straight-time rates, disguising such payment as “mileage reimbursement” in the payroll records.
• Failed to record hours employees worked to cover weekend events, paying for those hours separately, in cash, at straight-time rates.

To resolve the Fair Labor Standards Act violations, CSSI Inc., paid $68,603 in back wages to 34 employees, and the division assessed the employer an $11,645 civil penalty.

“Some employers attempt to gain financially by shortchanging employees and dodging wage laws” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “The U.S. Department of Labor will hold employers who ignore the law fully accountable. These employees deserve to be paid all the wages they have legally earned, and we remain committed to ensuring that happens.”

The division protects workers regardless of immigration status, and can communicate with workers 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.

TAMPA, FL – Home healthcare aides are among the nation’s lowest wage earners. Many depend on receiving every dollar they’ve earned, including overtime wages, so when their employer fails to comply with federal labor laws and shorts their pay, it hits their wallets particularly hard.  

A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation of All Support Services LLC, a Tampa-area home healthcare provider, found that the employer failed to pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, instead paying workers at straight time rates for all the hours that they worked. The employer also failed to pay workers for time spent traveling between clients’ homes, or for some of the time they spent on duty while their clients slept. 

The division cited All Support Services for these violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and has recovered $45,770 in back wages for 38 workers. 

“The Fair Labor Standards Act is very clear when it comes to employers’ obligations to their workers and their employees’ rights to receive earned wages for all the hours they work,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “Failing to pay workers as the law requires is illegal, and especially unacceptable amid a pandemic when these workers put their own safety at risk to serve the needs of our communities’ most vulnerable citizens.”

Based in Tampa, All Support Services LLC provides supported living coaches, supported employment, personal support, in-home companions and personal live-in support services to area residents.

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.

WEST COVINA, CA – An Ontario logistics provider of warehousing and distribution services for the home fashion and apparel industry told workers to record only 8 hours of labor each day regardless of how many hours they actually worked – a finding of the U.S. Department of Labor affirmed by a federal court in California recently.

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, has ordered Global One Logistics to pay a total of $120,000 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages to 388 employees, and an additional $2,000 penalty assessed by the department’s Wage and Hour Division to address the employer’s willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found the employer willfully failed to pay employees overtime at time-and-one-half their regular rates of pay when they worked more than 40 hours per week. In addition to requiring employees to falsify the number of hours they worked each day, the employer also paid for the unrecorded hours in cash, at workers’ straight-time rates.

“Employers who purposefully manipulate payroll records in an attempt to avoid their legal obligations will be held accountable by the U.S. Department of Labor,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Rafael Valles in West Covina, California. “Shortchanging employees hurts workers and their families, and gives employers who cheat an unfair competitive advantage over employers who abide by the law. The outcome of this investigation serves as a reminder to all employers to review their pay practices to ensure they comply with the law, and as a reminder to workers that they have the right to be paid for all of the hours that they work.”

In addition to paying back wages and damages, the court ordered Global One Logistics to implement a reliable timekeeping system that allows each employee to record his or her daily start and stop times accurately. The order also instructed the employer to not alter or manipulate time or payroll records to reduce the number of hours actually worked and not to encourage or pressure workers to under report hours worked.

The Wage and Hour Division protects workers regardless of immigration status, and can communicate with workers 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.