ELMWOOD PARK, ILLINOIS, MASONRY COMPANY ORDERED TO PAY MORE THAN $104K IN BACK WAGES, DAMAGES TO 20 WORKERS MISCLASSIFIED AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

WHD News Release: 05/19/2016
Release Number: 16-0876-CHI

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act consent judgment

Defendant(s): Expertize Masonry Inc., Pawel Walaszek

Investigation Findings: An investigation conducted by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Elmwood Park, Illinois-based Expertize Masonry Inc., and Walaszek violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions when they misclassified employees working as laborers, masonry workers, crew leaders and foreman on masonry jobs in the Chicago area as independent contractors.

Investigators found the misclassification resulted in workers receiving less than the legally required federal minimum wage, and led to the employer’s failure to pay the workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Additionally, the employer failed to maintain accurate time records as required by the FLSA.

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AG Healey Assesses More Than $326,000 in Restitution and Penalties Against Construction Companies in First Quarter of 2016

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Part of an Ongoing Effort by the AG’s Office to Address Wage Theft in the Industry

MAURA HEALEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

For Immediate Release – April 27, 2016

BOSTON – As part of an ongoing effort to address wage theft in the construction industry, Attorney General Maura Healey has issued 29 civil citations against construction companies from January 2016 through March 2016, an increase from the previous two quarters. Restitution for employees of the various employers totaled nearly $260,000 and the companies were fined a total of more than $68,000.

“Wage theft is a real issue in Massachusetts, including in the construction industry where dishonest companies continue to cheat their employees,” AG Healey said. “Our office is working to level the playing field so that workers are paid fairly and contractors who follow the rules are not at a disadvantage.”

Violations in these cases included the failure to pay proper wages, failure to pay overtime, retaliation and failure to furnish records for inspection. For work performed on public construction projects in the state, the violations included the failure to pay the prevailing wage, failure to submit true and accurate certified payroll records, and failure to register and pay apprentices appropriately.

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Wiljo Interiors Inc. in Tulsa pays more than $200K in unpaid wages and benefits to 178 misclassified construction workers

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US Department of Labor investigation finds contractor responsible as a joint employer of its subcontractor’s workers

 

WHD News Brief: [12/15/2015]
Release Number: 15-2312-DAL

 

Employer: Wiljo Interiors Inc.

Site: Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

Investigation Findings: A recent investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Wiljo Interiors Inc. violated overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act; and did not pay the proper prevailing wage rates or fringe benefits required under the Davis Bacon Act.

Wiljo Interiors was sub-contracted by prime contractor, Cherokee CRC LLC, to work on a $2.9 million federally-funded construction project at the Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Wiljo Interiors then brought in an additional sub-contractor, Strong Rock Drywall LLC, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, misclassified its owner and workers as independent contractors, yet dictated what they would pay them. Strong Rock also failed to pay its employees as required by law, but their work was directed and controlled by Wiljo. Therefore, the division found there was a joint employment relationship between the two employers, holding both employers responsible, both individually and jointly, for compliance with the FLSA. The FLSA states joint employment exists where workers have an employment relationship with one employer, and the economic realities show that they are economically dependent on – and thus simultaneously employed by – another entity involved in the work.

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Southern California flooring contractor pays more than $458K in back wages, damages to 127 workers following US Labor Department investigation

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

WHD News Release: [12/10/2015]
Release Number: 15-1870-SAN

 

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Drivers experience frustrations when stuck in congested traffic areas, such as Los Angeles. Sometimes, other factors test their tolerance, such as spending multiple hours behind the wheel each day for work and not getting paid for all that time, as required by law. That is what happened to 127 workers in Riverside.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Mota’s Floorcovering Inc. in Riverside paid straight time for all hours worked – including those employees who put in more than 40 hours in a workweek – in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions. The company also required workers to travel each day to and from work sites, including out-of-town assignments. However, the company did not always count travel time correctly and compensate the time as hours worked. In addition, the employer failed to include compensable travel time for overtime wage calculations, and did not keep accurate time records, in violation of the FLSA.

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US Labor Department recovers more than $342K in unpaid overtime wages, damages for 22 So Cal construction and maintenance employees

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

WHD News Brief: [12/07/2015]
Release Number: 15-2280-SAN

 

Employer: Salinas Inc.

Site: 1537 E. McFadden Avenue, Suite G, Santa Ana, California 92705

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Salinas Inc. violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The firm paid field workers, such as plumbers and carpet cleaners, a fixed semi-monthly salary regardless of the hours these employees actually worked. Some of these workers were also paid an additional flat rate for service calls. These employees often worked as many as 70 hours per week, but were not paid legally-required overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The carpeting, plumbing, painting and janitorial general contractor did use time cards for office staff but failed to keep any records of hours worked by their field employees, as required under federal law.

Resolution: Salinas will pay $171,428 in overtime back wages plus an equal, additional amount in liquidated damages, totaling $342,856 to 22 workers.

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Santa Ana-based Salinas Inc. owes $343,000 to 22 workers after failing to pay overtime, federal government says

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By MARGOT ROOSEVELT
Dec. 7, 2015
Updated Dec. 8, 2015 2:01 p.m.

 

Salinas Inc., a Santa Ana construction company, was assessed $342,856, in back wages and damages for failing to pay overtime to 22 workers over two years, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday.

Salinas’ carpet installers, painters, janitors and plumbers worked as much as 70 hours per week without earning the requisite time-and-a half for weekly hours exceeding 40, the department found.

“When employers disregard employees’ rights to legally-required overtime pay, they not only harm workers and their families, but they also put law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage,” Rodolfo Cortez, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s San Diego District Office, said in a statement released to the media.

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Halliburton pays nearly $18.3 million in overtime owed to more than 1,000 employees nationwide after US Labor Department investigation

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Global oil and gas service provider failed to pay overtime

 

WHD News Release: [09/22/2015]
Release Number: 15-1647-DAL
UPDATED: 9:43 AM, Nov 24, 2015

 

HOUSTON – In one of the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years for the U.S. Department of Labor, oil and gas service provider, Halliburton, has agreed to pay $18,293,557 to 1,016 employees nationwide. The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated Halliburton as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry in the Southwest and Northeast.

Investigators found Halliburton incorrectly categorized employees in 28 job positions as exempt from overtime. The company did not pay overtime to these salaried employees – working as field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisors, perforating specialists and reliability tech specialists – when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company also failed to keep accurate records of hours worked by these employees.

“The Department of Labor takes very seriously its responsibility to ensure workers receive the wages they have earned. This settlement will put millions of dollars where they belong – in the pockets of hardworking people and their families,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Employers who don’t pay their employees the wages they have earned don’t just hurt their workers, they undercut employers who play by the rules. That’s why we work every day to help level the playing field.”

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US Labor Department lawsuit alleges Wisconsin landscape service retaliated against 2 employees who filed complaint seeking overtime pay

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U.S. Department of Labor   October 23, 2014
Wage and Hour Division

ARPIN, Wis. — The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Carl’s Landscape Service Inc. in Arpin, alleging that the company retaliated against two workers for contacting the department’s Wage and Hour Division with a complaint about unpaid overtime.

“The law prohibits employers from retaliating against any employee who files a complaint or cooperates in a Wage and Hour investigation,” said Theresa Walls, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Minneapolis. “The Wage and Hour Division will not tolerate willful employee intimidation or coercion and will make use of every tool we have available to ensure that a fair investigation is conducted and workers are protected.”

After the company learned of the worker’s contact with the Wage and Hour Division, one employee was fired and the second was not called back following a seasonal layoff. A complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin against the company and its owner, Darrell Kasner, seeking lost wages for the two employees and an injunction against future retaliation.

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An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a Year

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Millions of Americans struggle to get by on low wages, often without any benefits such as paid sick leave, a pension, or even health insurance. Their difficult lives are made immeasurably harder when they do the work they have been hired to do, but their employers refuse to pay, pay for some hours but not others, or fail to pay overtime premiums when employees’ hours exceed 40 in a week.

This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Amounts that seem small, such as not paying for time spent preparing a work station at the start of a shift, or for cleaning up and closing up at the end of a shift, can add up.  When a worker earns only a minimum wage ($290 for a 40-hour week), shaving a mere half hour a day from the paycheck means a loss of more than $1,400 a year, including overtime premiums. That could be nearly 10 percent of a minimum-wage employee’s annual earnings-the difference between paying the rent and utilities or risking eviction and the loss of gas, water, or electric service.

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(Issue Brief #385 – Download PDF)

Updated Overtime Rules Would Cover 6.1 Million Workers

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In March of 2014, President Obama announced that the Department of Labor would adjust the salary threshold that determines which workers are eligible for overtime pay, so that low-paid salaried workers get paid overtime when they work long hours. Currently, salaried workers who earn more than $455 per week ($23,660 per year) may be exempt from being paid time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours a week. EPI has previously recommended that the salary threshold be increased to $984-equal to its level in 1975, adjusted for inflation.

In Increasing the Overtime Salary Threshold is Family-Friendly Policy, EPI economist Heidi Shierholz examines who would be affected by this rule change and finds that raising the threshold to $984 would make 6.1 million more salaried workers eligible for overtime. In the first demographic breakdown of who would be affected by the rule change, Shierholz finds that an increase of this level would disproportionately help women, blacks, Hispanics, workers under age 35, and workers with lower levels of education. The newly covered workers would be those at the low end of the salary scale, who have limited power to bargain over their wages or hours.

“Raising the salary threshold for overtime will help low-paid managers and professionals, especially women and people of color, who are not being compensated when they work over 40 hours a week,” said Shierholz. “It’s clear that the Department of Labor should raise the threshold to $984, or even higher, so that low-paid white-collar workers are treated fairly.”

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(Copy of Report)