The Department of Labor has obtained a sentence by consent that requires four supermarkets from the US Virgin Islands. USA and its owner and former administrator pay 33 workers ( including janitors, security guards and replacement personnel ) $ 240,000 in back wages plus damages after an investigation by the department's Hours and Wages Division found out that the employer denied overtime wages.
Dictated March 22, 2023 at the Virgin Islands District Court, the agreed judgment orders World Fresh Market LLC ( to function as a Supermarkets Town in St. Thomas and St. Croix ), its owner, Ahmad Alkhatib and the operations manager, Steven Bockino, pay affected employees $ 120,000 in back wages and an equivalent amount in damages. The agreed sentence also requires employers to comply with federal minimum wage, overtime, and record keeping requirements, cooperate with department investigations and take no retaliatory action against any employee.
In 2010, the division discovered that Pueblo Supermarkets' payment practices violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. Following the conclusion of the investigation, the employer agreed to correct its practices and respect the law. The division determined that they later ignored their obligations to pay workers what the law requires.
In the most recent investigation, the division identified violations of FLSA overtime and record keeping requirements by Pueblo Supermarkets. Specifically, they discovered that the employer:
- Wrongly classified the employees as "administrators", exempt from FLSA coverage, and paid them fixed wages, without the required fee for overtime worked.
- It did not maintain payroll records for many employees, including those wrongly classified as "administrators".
- It allowed at least one employee to work after hours, leading to overtime violations.
- He did not keep accurate records of some employees' hours, hourly pay, and overtime rates.
"When employers like Pueblo Supermarkets ignore the law, they deny workers the wages they have earned and need to support their families. Employers who mistakenly believe they can ignore the law ignore the reality that they will face considerable consequences when their illegal actions are discovered", said the District Director of the Hours and Wages Division, Jose Vazquez-Fernandez, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. "Food sales industry workers are among the worst payments in the Virgin Islands and across the United States. The Department of Labor remains committed to ensuring that these valuable and vulnerable workers receive the wages they earn".
See the sentence by consent. See the complaint.
"The US Department of Labor. USA will use all the tools to enforce the Act at its disposal, including litigation, when employers misclassify employees as "administrators" and are not paid overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act, "said Regional Labor Attorney Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. "The resolution in this case shows that food vendors and other employers who do not comply with the federal wage law can take legal action with costly consequences".
The division's Caribbean District Office in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico conducted the investigation. Trial attorney David J. Rutenberg of the department's New York Attorney's Office litigated the case.
FLSA requires that most employees in the United States receive a payment of at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and payment of overtime with a required rate of not less than time and a half for all hours worked that exceed 40 in a work week.
Learn more about the Hours and Wages Division, including one search tool which you can use if you think the division owes you back wages. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially to ask questions no matter where they come from. The department can speak to whoever calls confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency's free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE ( 487-9243 ). Download the new one Timesheet application from the agency for IOS and Android devices ( also available in Spanish ) to ensure that hours worked and remuneration are accurate.
Original source can be found here.