US Department of Labor recovers $24K in back wages, damages from Kentucky employer that denied 22 London smoke shop workers overtime

Employer:   25 Vape & Smoke LLC

Employer address:    1745 North Laurel Road, London, KY 40741

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $12,142 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 22 employees. Wage and Hour Division investigators determined that the employer and its owner Salik Rao paid straight-time wages for all hours worked, instead of paying them the required overtime rate of time and one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Quote: “Kentucky workers support their families and communities when they clock in, but they can’t fully achieve their earnings’ potential when they do not get every penny they earned,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville, Kentucky. “25 Vape & Smoke asked them to do a job, they did it, and those workers deserve to take home every dollar they earned.”

“When a business owner hires workers, they are accepting the responsibilities that go along with that decision,” said Regional Solicitor Tremelle Howard in Atlanta. “Employers must follow wage laws, or they will face legal and financial consequences.”

Background: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor previously obtained a court order – in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on July 23, 2024, that required the employer to pay the back wages and damages and enjoining it from future violations of the minimum wage, overtime wage, and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA.

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. Workers and employers can call the division confidentially with questions or concerns – regardless of where they are from – and the division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android and iOS Timesheet App for free in English or Spanish.