U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Charleston Holiday Inn Paying $58,233 in Back Wages and Damages for Overtime Violations

CHARLESTON, SC – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Tara of Charleston LLC – a Charleston, South Carolina-area company operating a Holiday Inn – has paid $58,233 in back wages and liquidated damages to 55 employees for violating overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD found that Tara of Charleston LLC paid the employees it hired through a Charleston staffing agency straight time for all the hours that they worked, resulting in violations when the employer failed to pay the workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Tara of Charleston LLC also failed to include certain bonuses employees earned in the calculation when they determined workers’ overtime rates. This exclusion resulted in employees being paid overtime rates lower than legally required. The employer also failed to pay employees for time they spent in short rest breaks, which is required by law, and failed to pay the correct overtime rate to tipped employees. WHD also cited recordkeeping violations for the employer’s failure to record workers’ short rest breaks as work time.

“This investigation serves as a reminder to other hotel employers to pay careful attention to Fair Labor Standards Act requirements concerning tips, breaks and overtime,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel, in Columbia, South Carolina. “The U.S. Department of Labor makes many resources available to employers and employees to make them aware of rights and responsibilities. We encourage hotel employers and employees to contact us directly if they have questions about how employees must be paid.”

The department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, confidential calls or in-person visits to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the WHD, contact the 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 https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.

WHD’s mission is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation's workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.