U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Burbank, California, Transportation Company Paying $80,140 to Resolve Overtime Violations

LOS ANGELES, CA – Templar Transportation Corporation – based in Burbank, California – will pay $80,140 to 26 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department also assessed the company $12,163 in civil penalties.

WHD investigators found that Templar Transportation Corporation paid employees flat salaries without regard for the number of hours they actually worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when the employees worked more than 40 hours in a week and were not paid overtime. The investigation also found that the employer failed to include non-discretionary bonuses earned by workers when calculating their overtime rates, resulting in those rates being lower than the law requires. The company’s failure to maintain accurate time records also resulted in recordkeeping violations under the FLSA. 

“Simply paying employees a salary does not relieve an employer of its obligation to ensure that employees are paid the wages they have legally earned for all the hours they have worked,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Kimchi Bui in Los Angeles. “We urge employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division with any questions they may have and also to use the many tools we offer to help them into compliance. Violations can be avoided.”  

For purposes of computing overtime pay, the FLSA requires that an employee’s “regular rate” of pay, upon which the time-and-one-half calculation is based, must include non-discretionary bonuses paid to the employee. Non-discretionary bonuses include those that are announced to employees to encourage them to work more steadily, rapidly or efficiently, and bonuses designed to encourage employees to remain with a facility.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program.  Information is also available at www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by WHD.