U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Hawaii Trucking Company Paying $59,888 to 12 Employees for Wage Violations

HONOLULU, HI – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Edwin De Luz Trucking & Gravel LLC – a trucking company based in Waimea, Hawaii – has paid $59,888 in back wages and liquidated damages to 12 employees for violating overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators found Edwin De Luz Trucking & Gravel LLC failed to record and pay employees for all of the hours they actually worked. Unrecorded and unpaid time occurred when the employer failed to round employees’ time entries within the limits required by the FLSA. In addition, the employer automatically deducted 30 minutes from employees’ work time for meal breaks each shift regardless of whether the employee actually took the break. This practice resulted in violations when employees worked through their breaks yet remained unpaid for that time.

The employer’s failure to accurately record hours worked also resulted in recordkeeping violations under the FLSA.

“Accurate recordkeeping, as the FLSA requires, allows employers to pay employees accurately and ensure that they are being paid all of the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Terence Trotter, in Honolulu. “We urge all employers to use the tools we offer to help them avoid violations and understand their responsibilities. Violations like these can be avoided.”

Employers that discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. 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). Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the Division.