Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DOL NEWS—WHD recovers $4M in back wages, damages resulting from FLSA, H-2A violations, (Jan 15, 2025)

By Jonathan Anderson

The infractions resulted from practices such as failing to pay overtime rates, not paying overtime, and charging H-2A workers cleaning fees.

The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division has separately announced its recovery of a total of $4,029,582 in back wages and damages for 2,437 employees working for a group of ice manufacturers, a hospital, various care providers, and a produce grower, for violations of the FLSA and the H-2A temporary agricultural workers program. The employers also paid a total of $206,733 in civil money penalties. In addition, the DOL announced a lawsuit against an adult gentleman’s club to recover wages and damages for 80 female entertainers.

Regular rates for all hours. Two commonly owned California ice manufacturers will pay $1,055,374 in back wages and liquidated damages to 70 employees to resolve reported FLSA overtime violations.

Investigators determined that the employers paid employees regular hourly rates for all hours worked and ignored the federal requirement to track and pay time-and-a-half their regular hourly rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Many employees regularly worked an average of 16 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

The WHD also assessed a total of $36,358 in civil money penalties against the companies because of the willful nature of their violations.

The investigations involved San Diego Ice Company in San Diego and California Ice Company in Lake Elsinore.

OT not paid. Kent County Memorial Hospital has agreed to pay $1.9 million to 853 healthcare workers for FLSA overtime infractions.

The medical facility in Warwick, Rhode Island, automatically deducted 30-minute breaks from hours that employees worked during the COVID-19 pandemic even though staffing needs kept them from taking those breaks, the WHD said. Employees in the emergency room and other departments worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but were not properly compensated when they worked through their breaks.

In addition, the hospital paid $100,000 in civil money penalties given the willful nature of the violations. As part of the settlement, which covers the period July 30, 2019, to December 31, 2022, the hospital has agreed to comply with the FLSA and has made substantial changes in its timekeeping practices to prevent future violations of federal recordkeeping requirements.

Kent County Memorial Hospital is part of the Care New England Health System, which is also subject to the settlement.

Care provider OT infractions. Five California care providers have collectively paid $735,762 in back wages and damages to 173 workers for violating FLSA overtime rules. The companies also paid a combined total of $67,525 in civil money penalties.

According to the WHD, each of the employers failed to pay overtime wages:

• Community Anchor Services Inc., a Carmichael home care employer, paid $252,578 in back wages and damages for 103 employees for failing to pay overtime for hours worked beyond 40 per week. The employer also paid $32,343 in civil money penalties.

• Nankil Enterprises Inc., operator of five Bakersfield adult residential care facilities, paid $245,285 in back wages and damages for 39 workers for not paying overtime wages to workers. The company paid $19,159 in civil money penalties.

• Opoku Residential Care Inc. paid $113,507 in back wages and damages for 20 employees. The recovery stems from a WHD investigation that determined the employer failed to pay workers at four adult care facilities in Fresno their required overtime wages for hours over 40 in a workweek. Opoku also paid $9,163 in civil money penalties.

• C. Seisa House, an Auburn residential care facility for people with disabilities, paid $63,974 in wages and damages for two workers because it did not pay them the required overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer paid $686 in civil money penalties.

• The operator of three Oroville residential care facilities for adults with developmental disabilities—Casa de Amor, Highlands View Care Home, and Pineville Care Home—paid $60,418 in back wages and damages for nine employees. The operator failed to combine all hours worked by employees at the different facilities, resulting in violations of overtime pay requirements. The operator also paid $6,174 in civil money penalties.

H-2A violations. Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co. Inc. has been ordered to pay $338,446 to 1,341 workers to resolve violations of the H-2A program.

The produce grower in South Carolina requested that workers make political contributions, which resulted in the workers’ adverse effect wage rate falling below the required $11.13 per hour, the WHD said. The employer also charged workers a cleaning fee, paid to a local cleaning crew, for the employer-provided housing.

Investigators further found that the employer violated H-2A program regulations by:

• Paying some H-2A workers an additional $50 per week to drive company vans to a nearby town to do laundry and shop for groceries but failing to disclose the additional pay on the job order;

• Failing to record reasons why some employees worked fewer hours than contractually offered; and

• Allowing workers to travel in a vehicle that lacked a charged fire extinguisher and had a broken passenger window and worn and unsafe tires.

The WHD obtained a consent finding from the DOL’s Office of Administrative Law Judges that required Titan Fruit & Vegetable to pay the back wages. To date, more than $200,000 in owed wages has been distributed to about half of the affected workers. The WHD said it is trying to locate the remaining 617 workers owed a total of $132,308 in wages.

In addition to the back wages, the division assessed the employer $2,850 in civil money penalties.

Independent contractor misclassification. The DOL has filed a lawsuit against an adult gentleman’s club in Wichita, Kansas, to recover wages and damages for 80 female entertainers.

The department alleges that the employer, Pleasures, and its operator, Mother’s Finest LTD, misclassified dancers as independent contractors, which deprived them of overtime and other benefits and protections. The employer also made illegal deductions from dancers’ tips and allegedly had dancers sign contracts with a clause forcing them to kick back lost wages recovered by litigation or an investigation, according to the DOL.

The lawsuit seeks back wages and an equal amount of liquidated damages for the dancers, and further asks the court to restrain Pleasures from illegal retaliation against its employees and from future FLSA violations.

The DOL filed its lawsuit in the District of Kansas; the case is No. 6:25-cv-01002.

Companies: San Diego Ice Company; California Ice Company; Kent County Memorial Hospital; Care New England Health System; Community Anchor Services Inc.; Nankil Enterprises Inc.; Opoku Residential Care Inc.; C. Seisa House; Casa de Amor; Highlands View Care Home; Pineville Care Home; Titan Fruit & Vegetable Co. Inc.; Pleasures; Mother’s Finest LTD

News: AgencyNews WageHour Overtime EmployeeStatus Immigration ImmigrationNews RemediesDamages