The owners of an Eastern Kentucky convenience store shorted workers on overtime and retaliated against workers who talked to investigators, a federal agency has alleged.
An area manager of the store in Perry County tried to get employees to sign false statements saying they had not worked overtime, and the owner told workers he was watching them on security cameras and would discipline them if they were caught talking to investigators, the U.S. Department of Labor alleged in court documents.
In addition, two women who worked in management at the store were demoted and required to start working weekend shifts, the complaint said.
The complaint was against Z4 Fuels LLC, which operates the Chavies Food Mart, owner Parvez Khutliwala and Rahim Ali, an area manager for the company, according to court documents.
In a response, Z4 Fuels denied any allegations of retaliation, discrimination or intimidation against its employees.
An attorney for the company declined comment on the finding by the Labor Department that Z4 Fuels did not pay employees overtime as required.
The Labor Department started an investigation after an employee of the store contacted the agency’s Wage and Hour Division last October and reported not being paid overtime for working more than 40 hours a week, investigator Joshua M. Stark said in an affidavit.
After interviewing employees and going over payroll records, Stark concluded the store wasn’t paying people overtime as required.
In early March, Stark and...
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