US Department of Labor recovers $36K in back wages for Fort Myers’ grocery store workers after investigation finds overtime violations

FORT MYERS, FL – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered more than $36,000 in back wages for workers at a grocery store that denied them overtime pay required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

At Pica Italian Deli Inc. – operating as Mario’s Italian Meat Market – investigators found the employer paid two deli clerks, one cook and one stocker, flat salaries regardless of the number of hours they worked each workweek. By doing so, the employer violated FLSA overtime requirements when these employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, yet they failed to pay them overtime. As a result, the division recovered $36,279 in overtime back wages for the four workers. The employer also violated FLSA recordkeeping requirements by failing to track the number of hours these employees worked each workweek.

“Some employers believe incorrectly that simply paying an employee a flat salary automatically means they don’t have to pay those workers overtime. That is not true,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff in Tampa, Florida. “Any exemptions from the law’s overtime provisions require that very specific criteria be met. We hope this investigation’s outcome encourages other employers to review their own pay practices to ensure they avoid similar violations and comply with the law.”

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