The Department of Labor said it has obtained a federal court order that requires two New Jersey construction companies and their owners and managers to pay $600,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 131 former employees after a federal investigation found the employers engaged in an illegal bonus pay scheme.
Entered by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the consent judgment follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that found that masonry and concrete contractors Innovative Design and Development LLC, E&N Construction Inc. and Shawn Roney, Joaquim Ferreira and Elio Ferreira — the companies’ owners and operators — engaged in illegal pay practices.
Specifically, the DOL said it found that in addition to a weekly check for 40 hours worked, the Newark-based employers paid employees with a second bonus check for overtime hours at their regular rate of pay rather than the overtime rate of one-and-one-half times the regular rate, as required by law.
The investigators also discovered the employers tried to hide the scheme by not keeping adequate records of daily and weekly hours worked— in violated of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
In addition to requiring the employers to pay back wages and liquidated damages, the court forbid them from future FLSA violations, retaliation against their employees, directly or indirectly, and seeking or accepting any of the back wages or liquidated damages paid to employees.
“These employers shortchanged people whose hard work enables their companies to profit and disregarded federal laws that protect workers’ rights,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Paula Ruffin. “The outcome in this case shows there are costly consequences for violating employees’ trust and federal law, and potentially serious harm to a business’ public reputation.”
Source: Department of Labor
Topics Numbers Construction
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