In a span of three days, the U.S. Department of Labor announced it had recovered $2.5 million in unpaid wages for over 450 employees involving eight different companies.
As evidenced by the announcements, there is no one industry that continues to violate the Fair Labor Standards Act — a 1938 law that requires non-exempt employees to be paid overtime for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The law also provides for minimum wage and has special rules around tip pooling for tipped workers.
The FLSA permits recovery of not just the back wages owed to the employee and attorney’s fees, but the law has a special provision referred to as “liquidated damages” — which doubles what is owed to the employee as penalties.
Multiple FLSA provisions were center stage in the announcements that employers had violated, among them:
A New York gas station, convenience store and Subway franchise operator will pay $178,000 for eight employees, including about $90,000 in back wages for overtime and minimum wage violations, and an equal amount in liquidated damages, and payment for willful violations.
A supermarket in Utah will pay $502,609 in back wages and liquidated damages...
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