In St. Petersburg, a communications business has paid $261,507 in previously unpaid overtime wages to 186 employees following an investigation by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. When hired, these workers were erroneously classified as exempt from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). A Wage and Hour investigation showed that the employees had not been paid back overtime wages for the period of time during which they were misclassified as exempt. Company officials cooperated with the investigation and all back wages have been paid.

In New York city, the Department of Labor has petitioned the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to find a New York-based temporary nurse placement firm in civil contempt of court for violating the provisions of a 1994 consent judgment in a federal overtime wage case. The consent judgment prohibited the company from future violations of the FLSA and required them to pay their employees properly for all hours worked, especially with regard to overtime hours. The subsequent investigation showed that the company had reverted to its previous practice of paying nurses straight time for all hours worked, regardless of how many overtime hours were involved.

Also in New York, the Department of Labor has sued a Mount Vernon/New Rochelle, NY, car wash and its owner for alleged violations of federal minimum wage, overtime, and record-keeping requirements of the FLSA. The investigation revealed that approximately 20 current and former low-wage employees were required to work many hours per week without being paid at least the federal minimum wage or proper overtime compensation. The defendants also failed to maintain adequate and accurate records of their employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment according to the investigation findings.

In Clarksburg, West Virginia, a wholesale beverage distributor has paid a total of $26,000 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages to 11 employees as a result of an agreement resolving a Labor Department lawsuit. An investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division found that the employer failed to compensate employees for hours worked in excess of forty per week from January 2001 through January 2003. The employees were not paid for two 15-minute breaks each day.

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Further information:
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www.dol.gov/esa/.../2005002.xml
www.dol.gov/esa/media/.../20050002.xml