Minnesota sheet metal fabricator pays 43 workers more than $171K in back wages and damages

ST. MICHAEL, Minn. – A central Minnesota sheet metal fabricator has paid $85,617 in back wages and an additional equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $171,234 to 43 workers. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined the company violated the overtime provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act by “banking” overtime hours instead of paying for that time at legally-required time and a half.

Agency investigators found Progressive Building Systems Ltd. “banked” employees’ hours when they worked more than 40 in a workweek, paying them out in future, shorter work weeks at straight time. The FLSA requires employers to pay overtime at not less than one and one-half times workers’ regular rates of pay for any hours they work beyond 40 in a workweek. Progressive also failed to maintain accurate records of hours worked, the division found.

“Banking hours in lieu of paying overtime is an all too common practice,” said David King, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Minneapolis. “Denying these workers the wages they rightfully earned makes it more difficult for them to support their families, and puts employers who play by the rules at a competitive disadvantage.  Other employers who may be paying workers in this manner should take note, and rectify their practices. Other workers whose overtime hours are banked should give us a call. All calls to our offices are free and confidential.”

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards for employees in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. Covered, nonexempt workers are entitled to a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour. Overtime pay, at a rate not less than one and one-half times the regular rate of pay, is required after 40 hours in a workweek.

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