Cited for 2013 wage theft, Unforgettable Coatings used second chance to illegally double-down
LAS VEGAS – After a 2013 investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor that recovered $47,393 from a Nevada paint and specialty coatings contractor and its owner whose illegal pay practices denied 21 Utah workers overtime wages, a reasonable employer might try to avoid repeating a bad and costly decision.
Cory Summerhays, owner of Unforgettable Coatings Inc. – a Las Vegas company operating in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah – chose instead to double down, and then some.
In January 2023, the department obtained a consent judgment in federal court in Las Vegas requiring the company and its owner to pay more than $3.6 million in back wages, liquidated damages, interest and penalties to 593 employees in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.
The action follows a five-month investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found the employer falsified pay records to deprive workers of earned overtime wages and then intimidated workers who questioned the company’s pay practices. These are all violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In September 2019, the division expanded its probe to include a second joint investigation between its offices in Las Vegas and Phoenix that covered the company’s operations from September 2016 until December 2020. The investigation included cooperation with the local district council of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and ...
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