US Department of Labor recovers nearly $30K in back wages, damages after finding systemic overtime lapses at six Jacksonville sandwich shops

ORLANDO, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $14,813 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages after finding a Jacksonville Subway franchisee directed employees to handle work-related tasks off-the-clock at six restaurants.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found that owners Penny Carter and Matthew Carter failed to compensate workers for all hours worked at six locations when they required managers to make bank deposits and conduct store-to-store runs between the greater Jacksonville area locations. At one of their locations, investigators determined, the restaurants’ operators shaved hours worked from employees’ timecards. All of these actions violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The employer also failed to keep accurate records reflecting employees’ proper rates of pay, gross pay and hours worked.

“The U.S. Department of Labor continues to work diligently to ensure employers understand their obligations to accurately track all hours worked in order to pay their employees all the wages they legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “We encourage all employers to make use of the wide variety of information and tools we offer to help them understand which activities must be compensated, how to operate in compliance, and to avoid violations like those found in this investigation.”

Agency investigators found violations at the following six locations operating as Subway restaurants:

***Back wages and liquated damages. 

Subway Management Group of Jacksonville Inc. is a chain of Subway franchised fast-food restaurants operating in the greater Jacksonville area with about 54 employees.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a compliance assistance toolkit for restaurants, and a search tool to learn if you are owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. 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). Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free.