US Department of Labor recovers $166K in back wages for 53 roofing workers denied overtime by Mohawk Valley contractor

ALBANY, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $166,832 for 53 employees of a Little Falls roofing contractor to resolve overtime and recordkeeping violations found by investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

Division investigators determined Lakeside Roofing & Contracting LLC – operating as Lakeside Kanga Roof – paid straight time for travel time and all hours over 40 in a workweek, did not record work hours accurately and failed to include commissions and bonuses when calculating hourly rates of pay for overtime, all violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company also did not display a poster summarizing workers’ FLSA protections, as the law requires.

Kanga Roof’s owner told investigators that they didn't consider the workers to be independent contractors or employees because each worker “buys into” the company when hired and becomes a “member” of the corporation and, thus, weren't entitled to overtime. However, the investigation determined the workers to be company employees per the FLSA and entitled to the law’s protections.

“Paying employees straight-time rates for overtime hours worked and incorrectly calculating hourly rates of pay when determining wages deprive workers of the hard-earned wages they depend on to make ends meet,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jay Rosenblum in Albany, New York. “Employers must know and comply with wage and hour laws that apply to their employees to ensure they are paid correctly.”

The division’s Rochester Field Office of the Albany District Office conducted the investigation.

For information about laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions, regardless of where they are from, and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

The Wage and Hour Division has a number of resources online for workers and employers, including an FLSA compliance toolkit. 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.

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