US Department of Labor recovers $84K in back wages, damages for 44 underpaid workers of Honolulu employer

Employer name:        Raymond’s Painting Co.

Investigation Site:     904 Hikina Lane

                                             Honolulu, HI 96817

Investigation findings: Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor found Raymond’s Painting Company Inc. – doing business as Raymond’s Painting Co. – didn’t treat pre-shift activities by its employees as on-the-clock work, resulting in violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer incurred a record keeping violation of the act when it didn’t properly document and maintain its employment records.

Penalties:       $42,060 in overtime back wages for 44 workers.

                             $42,060 in liquidated damages for 44 workers.

                             $10,000 in civil money penalties for willful and reckless disregard of the FLSA.

Quote: “Overtime earned should be overtime paid,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu. “Not counting work performed before or after a scheduled shift misrepresents the workers total weekly hours worked and leads to the underpayment of wages, including lawfully entitled overtime pay.”

The agency encourages workers who think they may be owed back wages as a result of these or other federal investigations to use the Workers Owed Wages search tool or contact the Honolulu Regional Office at (808) 541-1361. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division. Employers and workers can call the division confidentially with questions regardless of their immigration status. The department can speak with callers confidentially in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for Android devices to ensure hours and pay are accurate.

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