Kingsbury Companies LLC has paid a worker $40,000 in punitive damages and $3,901 in back pay after the company terminated the employee in retaliation for speaking with the employer and other employees about whether they were receiving the correct pay, according to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
The payments covered the period after the retaliatory firing in March 2023 during which the employee was looking for a new job.
According to DOL District Director Steven J. McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire, the Fair Labor Standards Act forbids employers from taking adverse action against employees for engaging in protected activities such as inquiring about their pay rates, asserting their worker rights, filing a complaint or cooperating with a Department of Labor investigation.
“This case sends a message to employers that any form of threat or retaliation against workers for asserting their rights can have steep consequences,” McKinney stated.
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