UNION, NJ – A federal court in New Jersey ordered an electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning company based in Union, and its two co-managers, to pay 89 electricians, electrician helpers and HVAC technicians after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the defendants deliberately denied overtime.

In a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the court ordered FTR Electrical and Mechanical Contractors Inc. – operating as FTR Electrical & HVAC Services – the company’s part-owner, President Antonio Goncalves, and company Vice President Francisco Carmo to pay $711,694 in back wages and liquidated damages to the affected workers. The court also ordered the employer and its co-managers to pay $16,450 in civil money penalties and interest to the department for their willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The court’s action follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division into the employer’s pay practices and litigation by the Office of the Solicitor. The division found that the defendants willfully violated the FLSA when they did the following:

• Paid employees straight-time for hours worked over 40 per week.
• Required employees to work off the clock and did not pay them for all hours worked.
• Required employees to clock in when they started work each workday, but directed them not to clock out when they finished working at the end of each workday.
• Paid employees for a maximum of eight...

Read Full Story: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220208-0