Dive Brief:

• Unforgettable Coatings, Inc. (UCI), a Las Vegas-based commercial and residential painting contractor, agreed to pay $3,686,592 to settle a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit alleging it violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, DOL announced Jan. 30. According to a consent judgment, UCI will pay $1,809,249 in alleged unpaid overtime compensation, an equal amount in damages and more than $18,000 in interest to 592 employees at UCI facilities in Nevada, Arizona, Idaho and Utah. It will also pay $50,000 in civil penalties. (Walsh v. Unforgettable Coatings, Inc., No. 20-00150 (D. Nev. Jan. 18, 2023)).
• UCI created a pay rate and bonus system that resulted in employees being paid their regular rate for all hours worked, instead of the overtime rate for hours worked in excess of 40 per week, the complaint alleged. The company also allegedly required some workers to volunteer to work on weekends without pay and intimidated workers it believed were cooperating with a DOL investigation.
• The company denied the allegations, arguing that DOL’s evidence “consists of hearsay, double hearsay, an unsigned declaration, an inaccurate and uncertified translation, and a selective extract of payroll records.” A third-party study obtained for the case “showed that all employees are paid above average, and most are well above average,” UCI said in a press release. “We have the best employees our markets have to offer, and we care for them deeply. Any claims that we are conspiring to...

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