Selma, California market to pay workers $149K in back wages and damages; violates federal labor pay standards

Employers: Alfonso’s Carniceria, Inc., doing business as Alfonso’s Meat Market

Site: 2756 Whitson St., Selma, California

Investigation findings:  Instead of paying overtime at time-and-a-half workers’ regular rates of pay, as the law requires, the employer paid for overtime hours at straight-time rates, in cash, off the books, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also failed to pay cashiers, prep cooks and the butcher’s assistant for all the hours that they worked. In addition, the company paid two butchers flat salaries, without regard to how many hours they worked. This resulted in the employer failing to pay these workers overtime for hours they worked beyond 40 in a week. The firm also failed to maintain records required by the FLSA.

Resolution: The market owner will pay $74,862 in back wages and an equal additional amount in liquidated damages totaling $149,724 to eight employees.

Quote: “Thanks to this investigation, these eight workers will finally receive the wages they worked long hours to earn,” said Rick Newton, director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Sacramento. “We continue our focus on industries where these types of violations are common, and where vulnerable workers may be unlikely to step forward to complain. The settlement reached in this case demonstrates how costly non-compliance can be for an employer, and sends a strong message to other employers who may be paying workers in this manner.”

Information: For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

FLSA: For more information about federal wage laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd/.

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