Department of Labor Target Employers Who Violate Wage and Hour Laws

The U.S. Department of Labor is targeting employers who violate wage and hour laws in spite of a recent ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Recently, the federal Department of Labor has filed several class action suits against employers who require or permit employees to work “off the clock”. Permitting employees to work while on unpaid meal breaks or permitting employees to do something unpaid after hours and on weekends is all included in violations.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) permits the government to file collective actions on behalf of a group of employees in a similar situation. Generally, employers are liable for two years of back bay and three years in the case of willful violations. The 9th Circuit Court of appeals rules that an employee can join a collective action only if he or she files written consent with the court at the time the action is brought.

Under the FLSA and various state minimum wage laws, all the time employee works must get paid, including time the employee “voluntarily” works, in excess of his or her scheduled shifts. The FLSA also requires employees to be paid overtime, usually after working 40 hours in the payroll week. If the employee volunteers to work overtime, he or she must be compensated at a rate of 1.5 times the employee’s average wage.

QuikTrip to Pay $750,000 in Back Wage

Convenience store operator QuikTrip Corp. agreed to pay $747,729 in overtime back wages for 3,819 current and former convenience store workers ，following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Arkansas-Oklahoma District Office.

The Department of Labor said on Monday that they found Tulsa-based QuikTrip had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by failing to pay its employees the overtime compensation they were legally entitled to receive. The chain did not pay additional overtime premiums due on performance-related bonuses. Among the states involved in the investigation were Missouri , Illinois , Arizona , Georgia , Iowa , Nebraska , Oklahoma and Texas .

An employer is not required by law to provide a bonus, but if a nondiscretionary bonus is paid, the bonus must be included as part of the employee's regular rate of pay for purposes of computing overtime. The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage and receive overtime at one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Effective July 24, 2009, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records.

Mike Thornbrugh, QuikTrip spokesman, said that "We have an additional form of compensation, and that is an additional bonus that we pay based on customer service…What we did, and it's our fault, is we had a computer programming error that was paying some employees too much for that and others were not getting the appropriate amount. We obviously fixed the program and reimbursed employees who were not getting the proper amount."

"I am pleased that this case has resulted in almost $750,000 in back wages being paid to thousands of workers across nine states," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "I am committed to ensuring that every worker is paid the full wages he or she is due, and that those who work overtime receive the compensation to which they are legally entitled."