US Department of Labor recovers wages for Albuquerque supermarket workers repeatedly denied overtime

Employer name:                                Heavenly Victory LLC, doing business as Naranjero Super 1

Investigation site:                              Albuquerque, New Mexico

Investigation findings: Fair Labor Standards Act overtime violations found when the employer paid employees a fixed salary for all hours worked instead of time and one-half the hourly employees’ rate of pay. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division cited the employer with child labor violations for allowing two minors under 18 to operate a meat saw and a meat slicer in violation of the federal child labor hazardous order #10. Division investigators also found that Heavenly Victory LLC modified time records to reflect that employees only worked 40 hours per week, in violation of the FLSA’s recordkeeping provisions. 

Back wages recovered:                     $16,075 in owed overtime to four workers

Penalties:                                            Paid $4,888 in civil money penalties

“The Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor regulations exist to ensure our children’s jobs and work hours do not jeopardize their safety, well-being or educational opportunities,” said Wage and Hour District Director Evelyn Ortiz in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Employers must understand FLSA requirements to avoid child labor, overtime and recordkeeping violations, such as those in this case.”