COLUMBUS, Neb. – While some in charge at Daniels Produce LLC kept workers away from U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators, others gathered the farm laborers and instructed them to tell federal authorities the company never paid them less than legally required wages. If the workers did not lie during their interviews, their employer threatened to send them home to Mexico and Guatemala and not invite them back to work in future growing seasons.

Employer: Unique Custom Exteriors

Site: 9326 South Hawley Park Road #A, West Jordan, Utah 84088

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is conducting survey of building and heavy construction projects in seven New Mexico counties to help establish prevailing wage rates as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

DENVER – Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding to help stop the misclassification of workers in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

The first MOU of its kind represents a new effort on the part of the agencies to work together to protect employee rights and level the playing field for responsible employers by reducing the practice of misclassification.

Employer name: Makin’ Choices Inc.

Investigation site: 2000 Chapel Hill Road, #23, Durham, North Carolina 27707

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Makin’ Choices and its owner, Rachelle Brooks-Blue and manager Lamont Adams, violated the anti-retaliation provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employer: Brownlow Plastering LLC

Site: 19031 Trippi Road, Hammond, Louisiana 70403

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing 

Name of Defendants: Austin Electric Services LLC
Toby Thomas

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has revoked a West Virginia nonprofit’s ability to pay less than the current federal minimum wage to workers with disabilities after federal investigations found the organization violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing

Name of Defendants: West Coast Drywall & Company Inc.
Mark D. Herbert
Santos Garcia

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – An Overland Park flooring company that misclassified installers as independent contractors will pay 22 workers a total of $159,144 – representing $79,572 in back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages – after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation.

FRESNO, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the California Vanpool Authority will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand the use of the authority’s CalVans fleet – based on the demand from growers, packers and farm labor contractors – to ensure safe and reliable transportation for Central Valley farmworkers to and from the fields every day. The event coincides with the anniversary of an infamous vehicle accident that killed 13 farmworkers in the region in 1999.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

Employer:  Bosco’s Inc.

Sites: 2301 Spenard Road, Anchorage, Alaska
800 E. Dimond Blvd., Suite #162, Anchorage, Alaska

TAMPA, Fla. – A federal investigation into pay practices at a technology subsidiary of global banking giant Citigroup revealed the Florida company denied hundreds of employees’ overtime compensation and did not maintain time records, both violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will offer a comprehensive compliance seminar for employers, representatives of community rehabilitation programs, family members and guardians of workers with disabilities and other stakeholders on rules governing the payment of workers with disabilities under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

BOSTON – A Lunenburg construction company and a Framingham company it used to avoid its legal responsibilities as an employer have been ordered to pay a total of $2,359,685 in back wages and liquidated damages to 478 employees and take other corrective actions to prevent future violations of federal labor law. Under a consent judgment they will also pay $262,900 in civil money penalties due to the willful nature of their violations.

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of workers who prepare and serve meals for Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffs in the U.S. Senate cafeterias will receive more than $1 million in back wages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found their employers failed to pay prevailing wages required of federal contractors.

Employers: David Hovannisian and J&V Properties Inc., two property management companies jointly doing business as JD Home Rentals

Location: 2975 E. Belmont Ave., Fresno, California

Participants: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Wage and Hour Division; the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.

Employer: DCO Custom Builders LLC  

Site: 800 West Shell Drive, Suite H, Nogales, Arizona