Auto Care and Tire Shop Pays $152,109 in Back Wages to 248 Employees After U.S. Department of Labor Finds Wage Violations in Carolinas and Virginia

COLUMBIA, SC – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Colony Tire Corp. has paid $152,109 in back wages to 248 employees for overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) at 25 establishments throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.

WHD investigators determined the automotive care and tire sales company, which operates as Colony Tire and Service in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, failed to include mechanics’ and technicians’ commissions in their regular rates of pay when calculating their overtime rates. Excluding those amounts from the calculation resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law. 

“Employers must base overtime payments on employees’ regular rates of pay, which can include earned bonuses or commissions. Paying overtime simply on workers’ base hourly rates denies them wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “We encourage employers to reach out to us with questions and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to ensure they clearly understand their responsibilities. We appreciate this employer’s cooperation in resolving these issues quickly.”

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 that 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.