U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Ohio Company Paying 84 Employees $37,658 in Back Wages and Damages

LEBANON, OH – A Lebanon, Ohio, company that provides services to individuals with development disabilities has agreed to pay 84 employees a total of $37,658 – representing $18,829 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators found Visions Matter LLC failed to pay workers for time spent in work-related training, resulting in overtime violations when that unpaid time occurred during workweeks when employees worked more than 40 hours.

Additional overtime violations resulted from the employer's practice of paying overtime after employees worked 80 hours in two weeks, instead of after 40 hours in a single workweek, as the law requires. The FLSA allows employers to pay employees bi-weekly, but overtime must be tracked weekly.

Visions Matter also failed to maintain required records of each employee's daily and weekly hours worked and overtime pay rate, resulting in recordkeeping violations.

"The Wage and Hour Division works to ensure employers in all industries comply with federal law so that every employee receives the wages they have rightfully earned," said Wage and Hour District Director George Victory, in Columbus. "Employers must understand their responsibility to track and record all of the time their employees spend working. We encourage employers to use the wide variety of compliance tools we offer to explain those requirements, and to contact us for guidance."

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by WHD, contact the Division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the Division.