HEBRON, KY – The initial discovery of illegal pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse by the U.S. Department of Labor led to a broader investigation that found systemic overtime violations by a California-based warehouse operator and e-commerce distributor, and a determination that the employer owes $1,025,909 in back wages to 995 warehouse workers in Kentucky and California.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that WIN.IT America Inc. – the U.S. branch of WINIT Information Technology Co. in Hong Kong, an e-commerce supply chain solution provider – failed to include merit-based bonuses in employees’ regular rates of pay when calculating overtime rates. By doing so, the City of Industry, California-based employer paid overtime at rates lower than required under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In addition, WIN.IT paid some workers straight-time rates for all hours worked, failing to pay the additional half-time rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer also misapplied the overtime rules for some salaried employees, which denied them overtime wages when required.
“What began as an investigation of pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse became a wide-ranging review of a prominent e-commerce solutions provider that found systemic failures to ensure their workers’ rights to be paid all of their hard-earned wages,” explained Deputy Principal Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “As the demand for warehouse workers...
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https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220808