Federal investigators recover $106K for 50 employees of vending machine operator after US Department of Labor finds overtime violations

WEST COVINA, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $106,245 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages for 50 employees after finding that their Southern California employer made illegal deductions from workers’ wages and calculated workers’ overtime wages improperly.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Parks Coffee California Inc. violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by making automatic one-hour lunch break deductions from employees’ wages even though their breaks were not free of work. The company – which supplies and operates refreshment vending machines – also violated FLSA’s overtime requirements by failing to document and compute bonuses and commissions into employees’ rate-of-pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.

The investigation led to the recovery of $53,122 in back wages plus an additional $53,122 in liquidated damages for the 50 employees.

“Employers must pay wages as the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime provisions require,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Skarleth Kozlo in West Covina, California. “Parks Coffee is responsible for knowing what the law considers 'working time' for the accurate payment of wages.”

A subsidiary of Parks Coffee Inc. of Carrollton, Texas, Parks Coffee California operates gourmet vending machines in office buildings and workplaces in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact its 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.