U.S. Department of Labor Recovers $85,753 in Back Wages For 414 Employees of Detroit-Area Car Wash Operator

ROCHESTER, MI – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Mr. C’s Car Wash – based in Rochester, Michigan – has paid $85,753 in back wages to 414 employees for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime and minimum wage requirements at all nine of the employer’s Detroit-metro locations.

WHD investigators found the employer violated the FLSA’s minimum wage requirements when it diverted a portion of workers’ tips to managers. Tips, under the FLSA, are the property of the tipped employees, and the law prohibits employers and managers from keeping any portion of them. Mr. C’s Car Wash violated overtime requirements when it deducted short rest breaks from employees’ pay, resulting in the employer not paying workers for all the hours that they worked. Employers must count breaks of less than 20 minutes as work time. Additional overtime violations resulted when the employer failed to include bonus and commission payments in employees’ regular rates of pay when determining their overtime rates. Erroneously excluding these amounts from the calculation resulted in Mr. C’s paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.

“Employers of tipped workers must comply with all of the FLSA’s requirements about how to distribute those tips to ensure they pay employees all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit, Michigan. “We encourage all employers to contact WHD to better understand their responsibilities so that they can avoid similar violations.”

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.

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 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.

# # #