US Department of Labor recovers $10K in back wages, damages for 23 workers of three Kentucky gas stations, convenience stores

KEVIL, KY – Twenty-three employees of three Kentucky gas stations and convenience stores are now being paid for all the wages they earned after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found their employer violated the law by willfully sidestepping required overtime wages owed.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found Doloma Corp. – operating as Indian Hills #6 in Arlington and Indian Hills #1 in Wickliffe – and Parth Corp. – operating as Indian Hills #3 in Kevil – paid only straight-time wages when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The employer paid workers by check for their first 40 hours, then paid straight-time wages in cash for all the hours worked over 40 in that workweek. By doing so, the employer denied workers the required additional half-time rate for overtime hours. The employer also failed to maintain an accurate record of hours the employees worked. Their practices violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The investigation led the division to recover $10,618 in back wages and liquidated damages for the workers, and assess Doloma Corp. with a $16,703 civil money penalty to address its willful violations. The review also found the employer owed $555 in back wages to an employee who they wrongly denied emergency paid sick leave while the worker self-quarantined after contracting coronavirus. The refusal to pay the employee emergency sick leave violated the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

“The Wage and Hour Division prioritizes low wage workers and stands ready to protect them from employers who attempt to shortchange their wages,” said Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director Richard Blaylock in Louisville, Kentucky. “Employers who do so make it difficult for workers to provide for themselves and their families. These employers also gain an unfair and illegal business advantage over other industry employers.”

The Wage and Hour Division provides multiple tools to help employers understand their responsibilities, and offers confidential compliance assistance to anyone with questions about how to comply with the law. Workers can call the division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit the agency’s website to 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.