Human Resources Consulting - Columbia SC

U.S. Department of Labor Continues to Investigate

With all of the current and ongoing issues surrounding the operations of any business, it is important for owners and managers to remember that some things have not changed. Specifically, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) continues to investigate allegations of violations of labor laws. When a violation occurs, fines and other penalties are sure to be imposed.
Below are five recent examples of violations which were discovered and addressed by the DOL. Employers should continue to be aware of these laws and understand the importance of compliance.

A company’s best defense against the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation, benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions. The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance with the latest state and federal mandates.

  1. S & O Groceries, Inc., operating as Bravo Supermarket in Fort Myers, Florida, has paid $13,781 in back wages to two employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department also assessed the grocery store a civil penalty of $806 for the repeat nature of the violations.
      
    WHD investigators determined S & O Groceries, Inc. paid two store clerks flat salaries, regardless of the number of hours they worked. This practice resulted in violations when those employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek without the employer paying them overtime. WHD found the same violation in a 2017 investigation of this employer.

  2. After an investigation by the WHD, Jerezee Construction, a construction company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, will pay $3,270 in back wages after wrongly denying paid sick leave to an employee whose healthcare provider advised him to self-quarantine following a potential coronavirus exposure, and failing to pay overtime.
      
    WHD investigators found Jerezee Construction’s failure to provide paid sick leave violated the Families First Coronavirus Act (FFCRA). Investigators also found the employer failed to display or distribute the FFCRA poster advising workers of their rights. Additionally, the employer failed to pay the employee overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, in violation of the FLSA. Jerezee also failed to keep accurate records of the number of hours the employee worked.

  3. Computer manufacturer Lenovo Inc. has paid an employee $108,152 to resolve violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
      
    WHD investigators determined that Lenovo, headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, failed to reinstate an eligible employee upon return from FMLA leave to the same or equivalent position the worker held prior to the leave, as the law requires. Instead, the employer offered the employee an opportunity to apply for other company positions. After Lenovo failed to hire the worker for any of the alternative positions, the employer terminated the employee.

  4. After an investigation by the WHD, Boston Coffee, Inc., the operator of a Suwanee, Georgia, Dunkin’ location, has paid $1,040 in back wages after wrongly denying emergency paid sick leave to an employee who self-quarantined after receiving a coronavirus diagnosis.
      
    WHD investigators found Boston Coffee Inc. violated requirements of the FFCRA by denying the paid sick leave. After WHD contacted the employer, they agreed to pay the back wages and comply with the FFCRA’s requirements in the future.

  5. After investigations by the WHD, three Mississippi poultry processing plants have paid $45,719 in back wages to 129 employees to resolve minimum wage and overtime violations of the FLSA.
      
    The investigations found the employers failed to pay final paychecks to multiple workers, resulting in minimum wage violations. In addition, WHD found Pearl River Foods made illegal deductions from some employees’ paychecks for uniform items like gloves and aprons, resulting in minimum wage violations when those deductions caused employees’ rates of pay to fall below the federal minimum wage. WHD also determined Koch Foods of Mississippi failed to include production bonuses in employees’ regular rates of pay when calculating overtime. Excluding those bonuses, and basing overtime only on workers’ hourly rates, resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.
      
    WHD also assessed Koch Foods a $1,693 civil penalty for violating child labor requirements of the FLSA when they employed a 15-year-old minor to work in meat processing, a prohibited occupation for workers under the age of 18.

A company’s best defense against the potential expense and aggravation related to federal or state law violations is to proactively review and revise as needed all Human Resources policies, handbooks, hiring procedures, compensation, benefits, training programs, communications tools and other functions. The professionals of PHHR are ready to assist your organization with this type of training as well as to maintain compliance with the latest state and federal mandates.

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Paul Hilton Human Resources Consulting works with our clients to insure that all required documentation is correct and sufficient to successfully defend against a claim to any unemployment compensation commission.

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Paul Hilton, Human Resources Consulting, LLC
Columbia, South Carolina
Office: (803) 481-9533
Cell: (803) 305-8962 

Paul Hilton, Human Resources Consulting, LLC