Date of action:           August 19, 2024

Type of action:          Temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction

BOSTON – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $77,206 in back wages for five workers employed on a federally funded construction project after finding one subcontractor failed to pay prevailing wages and fringe benefits and another submitted falsified payroll records.

Employer:      Teracom Inc., Saline, Michigan

KANSAS CITY, KS – A federal jury in Kansas has awarded $957,324 in back wages for 168 workers at three Wichita-area restaurants jointly operated by three owners who willfully violated federal laws by using tips earned by servers to pay hosts and bussers and denying workers minimum and overtime wages.

Date of action:                       August 1, 2024 

Employer:   Walker White Inc.

Employer address:    7402 Fairfield Road, Columbia, SC 29203

FORT WAYNE, IN – A federal lawsuit has recovered $178,000 in back wages, damages and penalties from Hall Drive-Ins Inc., operator of 10 Fort Wayne-area restaurants, to resolve U.S. Department of Labor litigation filed in 2023 in light of the employers’ violations of tip-pool requirements in the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

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

                        Consulate of Mexico in San Jose, California

Employer:      Teijin Automotive Technologies Inc.

                            100 S. Poe Road

                            North Baltimore, Ohio

Employer name:              JRM Enterprises Inc., operating as JRM Landscape & Design 

Investigation site:           8177 Carder Court 

                                                   Littleton, CO 80125

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $31,761 in back wages and damages from a Tennessee operator of assisted living communities that illegally fired one worker for questioning the employer’s pay practices and denied full overtime wages to seven care workers.

Employer name:                     Solid Care Home Health Inc.

Investigation site:                  1500 E Belt Line Road, Suite 200

                                                          Carrolton, TX 75006

LEBANON, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a summary judgment in federal court in its effort to recover more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 193 employees of a Pennsylvania home care agency and its owner, which failed to pay workers required minimum and overtime wages.

BUFFALO, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $375,649 in back wages and liquidated damages for 806 current and former employees of nursing homes in upstate New York that denied them overtime pay in violation of federal law.

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $103,665 in back wages for 38 workers employed by a Southlake landscaping company that misclassified them as independent contractors and, by doing so, denied them overtime pay.

HONOLULU – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $450,000 from a Honolulu air cargo carrier that shortchanged 250 employees of their full pay and benefits while fulfilling a $113 million U.S. Postal Service contract to move mail between airports in Hawaii.

Employer:      UMS Heavy Equipment Rental Inc.

                             3415 Maimai Road

Employer:      

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor’s investigation of a Bristol restaurant identified 20 child labor violations, including allowing a 15-year-old to use a blowtorch for food preparation and another 15-year-old to clean a meat slicer.

Ed. Note: On Sept. 16, 2024, the quote from Wage and Hour District Director David An was revised.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court judgment requiring 15 gas stations - operating under brands such as BP, Mobil and Sunoco - in Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk counties and their owner and president to pay more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to more than 100 current and former employees in response to a federal investigation.