San Francisco-based real estate operator pays more than $110K in back wages, damages, penalties after investigation finds repeated overtime violations

Employer: Litke Investments LLC, a San Francisco-based real estate investment enterprise, acquires, maintains and manages hotels and residential apartments.

Sites: Numerous hotels and apartments operating under various legal and trade names in California, Texas, Oregon and North Dakota.

Investigation findings: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found Litke Investments:

• Violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it improperly classified hourly-paid property managers and exempt from receiving overtime and paid them at straight time rates for hours worked.
• Incurred further overtime violations when it paid other workers straight time for hours worked beyond 40 per week.
• Failed to combine the hours worked by employees working at multiple locations throughout the week when determining whether overtime was due.
• Did not keep complete and correct time records for employees, in violation of FLSA’s record keeping provisions.

The division investigated Litke in 2011 and found similar overtime violations.

Resolution: The owner of Litke Investments has paid $51,429 in overtime back wages and an equal, additional amount in liquidated totaling $102,858 to 75 employees. In addition, the company paid civil money penalties totaling $8,030 due to the willful nature of the repeated violations found.

Quote: “Litke Investments deprived its workers of hard-earned overtime wages to which they are entitled by law,” said Susana Blanco, director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco. “Other employers should review their pay practices to ensure that they are in compliance. The back wages, damages and penalties paid in this case demonstrate that the department is determined to ensure workers receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. We will stop those employers who skirt the law so that we ensure other businesses can compete fairly.”

Information: For more information about federal wage laws administered by the 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.