HARTFORD, CT – An investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor have resulted in a federal court ordering three bakeries located in Danbury, Connecticut, and Mount Vernon, New York, and their owner/officer to pay nearly $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 74 employees to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Pedro Coelho and Coelho’s businesses – Padaminas NY Bakery II LLC, Padaminas NY Bakery LLC and Padaminas Brazilian Bakery Inc. – willfully violated the FLSA’s overtime requirements when they paid employees, primarily bakers and counter staff, who worked more than 40 hours per week straight time instead of time-and-a-half their regular pay rates. The employers also failed to keep records of employees’ work hours and compensation paid.
The consent judgment and order, entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, requires Coelho and his businesses to pay $952,433 – $476,216 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – to the 74 affected employees. The employers also must pay $41,568 in civil money penalties to the department due to the violations’ willful nature.
The order prohibits the defendants from violating the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements and requires them to cooperate with department FLSA investigations and provide truthful responses, information and documents to investigators. It also prohibits them from soliciting...
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