Las Vegas plastering company will pay $137K in overtime back wages to 156 piece rate employees after US Department of Labor investigation

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas plastering company will pay $137,174 in back wages owed to 156 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators found Platinum Plastering failed to pay piece rate employees overtime at one-and-a-half times their regular rates of pay when they worked more than 40 hours per week. The investigation revealed the underpaid piece rate employees worked more than 45 hours per week on average. The law requires employers to pay overtime at time-and-one-half workers’ regular rates for hours worked beyond 40 in a week unless a specific exemption applies. This requirement applies whether the employer pays an employee by the hour, a day rate, a salary, a piece rate, or by any other method. In this case, the employer paid employees the same piece rate regardless of the number of hours they worked per week.

This employer’s failure to keep accurate records of the number of hours employees worked also resulted in FLSA recordkeeping violations.

“The hard-working employees in this industry deserve to be paid every penny of the wages they have earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Higinio Ramos in Las Vegas. “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to protecting workers, and to leveling the playing field for law-abiding employers. Other employers in this industry should use this case as an opportunity to evaluate their own pay practices to make sure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like those found in this case.”

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