US Department of Labor finds Santa Fe art delivery company paid drivers per day or per mile, failed to pay overtime wages

SANTA FE, NM – In the nation’s third largest market for fine art, industry employers must meet exacting standards to safeguard and transact their clients’ work. Ironically, a recent federal investigation found the operator of a Santa Fe art delivery service was far less careful when it came to paying all of the wages earned by seven of its drivers.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Perro Grande Management Corp., which operates as Art Delivery Service, denied overtime wages to the drivers by paying them either a day rate or per mile, with no additional overtime pay when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The division found, by law, the employer should have paid these drivers overtime, and their failure to do so violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The investigation led the division to recover $32,044 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for the seven drivers.

“Perro Grande Management did not pay overtime and, as a result, are dealing with the costly consequences. Employers are responsible to ensure their pay practices comply with federal wage laws and that workers are paid all of their legally earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque. “We encourage employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division to ensure they understand their responsibilities so they may avoid similar violations.”

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. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.