SALT LAKE CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $502,609 in back wages and liquidated damages for 148 people employed by one of Utah’s largest Asian grocers after the agency filed suit to stop the employer from interfering with an investigation into employer’s compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employer name: Morris-Pace Assisted Living Inc., operating as Morris-Pace Personal Care Home, and located at 416 Reading Ave., Reading, Pennsylvania 19611

Court action: Consent judgment obtained on July 3, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the Department of Labor.

HARTFORD, CT – A federal court has entered a consent judgment and order requiring six Connecticut restaurants and their owners to pay a total of $858,191 in back wages and liquidated damages to 105 employees after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The restaurants are located in Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, New Haven and Westport.

Employer:      The Saucy Crab Grand Rapids LLC operating as The Saucy Crab

                        5039 28th St. SE

                        Grand Rapids, MI

FAIRFAX, VA – A federal court has directed a Fairfax home care agency and its owners to pay more than $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 202 home health aides in a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

NEW YORK – Fiduciaries of a retirement plan sponsored by DST Systems Inc. — including New York City-based investment management firm Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc. — will pay more than $124.6 million to resolve violations of federal law related to their failure to manage the profit-sharing portion of the plan properly.

PHOENIX – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. está buscando a trabajadores actuales o anteriores que ahora o alguna vez hayan sido empleados por un distribuidor nacional de piezas de carros y su empresa de entregas a quienes se les debe dar más de $5.6 millones en salarios atrasados y daños que el departamento recuperó para más de 1.300 conductores.

MANCHESTER, NH – A federal investigation has recovered $950,000 in back wages and liquidated damages and $50,000 in punitive damages from a West Lebanon home healthcare business — with a history of unlawful pay practices — that denied overtime wages to 36 employees.

PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking people now or once employed by a national auto parts distributor and its delivery company who may be owed their share of more than $5.6 million in back wages and damages recovered on behalf of more than 1,300 drivers.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court in Pennsylvania has ordered a Philadelphia home healthcare staffing agency to pay $197,236 in back wages and liquidated damages to 31 employees after federal investigators found that their employer failed to pay proper overtime.

ATLANTA – In what may be the largest misclassification case in its history, the U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to force a Florida-based customer service provider for major national brands, including Barnes & Noble, Comcast, Disney and Walgreens, to pay back wages and liquidated damages to more than 22,000 workers after investigators found the employer misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them their legally required minimum wage and overtime pay.

GEORGETOWN, DE – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a Delaware salvage yard company and its owner after a federal whistleblower investigation found the company fired a smelter operator for reporting safety concerns.

PORTLAND, ME – A federal administrative law judge has determined that Shawn D. Purvis, doing business as Purvis Home Improvement Co. Inc., willfully exposed employees to fall hazards at roofing worksites in Portland, Old Orchard Beach and Springvale between December 2018 and May 2019.

MINNEAPOLIS – Following a five-day jury trial, a federal district court in Minneapolis has awarded $254,628 in back wages and liquidated damages to 21 drivers after the U.S. Department of Labor determined their employer, a non-emergency medical transportation company, misclassified them as independent contractors denying them overtime pay.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $771,022 in back wages and $61,215 in liquidated damages for 47 workers of a Haverhill landscaping company after the employer failed to comply with requirements of the federal H-2B worker program and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The H-2B Worker Program permits businesses to employ temporary visa workers for limited periods of time.

SCHAUMBURG, IL – An administrative law judge has ordered a Schaumburg residential and commercial swimming pool company to pay $312,561 in back wages to 26 workers, employed under a federal guest worker visa program, after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer failed to comply with the H-2B guest worker visa program.

HERMITAGE, TN – A federal court in Nashville has affirmed the findings of an investigation that determined a Tennessee security and traffic control services provider and its owner misclassified 105 workers as independent contractors, including some who worked as security guards in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

Date of action:  June 13, 2023

Type of action:  Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and permanent injunction

Names of defendants:   811 Autoworks LLC, operating as AOK Walker Luxury Autoworks 

FORT WAYNE, IN – The U.S. Department of Labor has taken federal court action against the operator of 10 Fort Wayne-area restaurants that failed to pay $290,000 in back wages and damages to 30 employees.

SACRAMENTO – Federal wage and hour investigators have seen corrupt employers try all kinds of scams to shortchange workers and to intimidate or retaliate against employees but a northern California restaurant’s attempt to use an alleged priest to get employees to admit workplace “sins” may be among the most shameless.