The US Department of Labor. USA has recovered more than $ 333,000 in back wages and damages for 51 people employed in a Long Island maintenance company that issued separate checks to its employees to hide that the company did not pay overtime wages when required by law.
Investigators for the department's Hours and Wages Division determined that staff worked 80 hours a week or more, but generally Professional Building Maintenance Corp. and their owner Brady Patruno paid them flat hourly rates instead of paying them for overtime worked over 40 in a work week.
Specifically, the company and Patruno paid staff who worked overtime in a pay period by issuing more than one check, one from the company's payroll account for the first 40 hours or less of work, and a second check from another account for overtime. However, the company did not pay the mandatory overtime fee for hours worked above 40 hours in a work week. The company issued overtime checks at flat hourly rates either through a secondary business bank account and / or through a shell company that Professional Building Maintenance Corp. posing as a subcontractor.
The regional procurement office obtained an administrative search warrant and assisted the division in obtaining third-party bank subpoenas to obtain payroll records and canceled checks who revealed the scam to the staff.
The investigation recovered $ 166,702 in back wages and an equivalent amount for damages, and led the department to impose $ 15,432 in civil fines for the deliberate nature of the violations according to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"Businesses who mistakenly believe they can dismiss the law and deny their staff the wages they have struggled to earn will face considerable consequences when their illegal actions are discovered", said district director of the Hours and Wages Division, David An, in Westbury, New York. "Staff with questions about their rights and responsibilities under federal law should feel free to contact the Hours and Wages Division".
FLSA requires that most staff 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. Businesses and employees 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.
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