U.S. Department of Labor Recovers $90,508 in Back Wages for California Trucking Company Employees After Overtime Violations Found

WEST COVINA, CA – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Kal Freight – an Ontario, California-based trucking company – has paid $90,508 in back wages to 16 employees for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime requirements.

The WHD investigation found that Kal Freight paid some dispatchers and office employees flat salaries, regardless of the number of hours that they worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, an FLSA violation. Kal Freight paid other employees hourly, but paid for overtime hours at straight time rates, in separate checks. The law requires employers to pay overtime at time and one-half workers’ regular rates for hours they work beyond 40 in a workweek unless a specific exemption applies. The employer’s failure to keep accurate records of the number of hours employees worked also resulted in FLSA recordkeeping violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that workers get paid all the wages they have legally earned, including overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek,” said Wage and Hour Assistant District Director Gayane Aleksanian, in West Covina, California. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to enforce the law so all employers abide by the same rules. We encourage other employers in this industry to review their own pay practices and to avoid violations like those found in this case.” 

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, and confidential calls to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, 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.

The mission of WHD 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 paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, 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.