Penalty for not paying proper wages? $2 million
January 21, 2010 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Employment law, FLSA, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Money, Pay and benefits
The DOL is continuing its crack down on businesses that violate wage-and-hour laws. One recent investigation cost a company $2 million.
Earlier we reported that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) was hiring 250 investigators to seek out wage-and-hour violators — and the owners of five Oriental Forest restaurants, Li Jin Yang and Dong Lin, are among the latest to get caught in the DOL’s crosshairs.
They were found guilty of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act for failing to pay their workers proper OT and for paying less than the federal minimum wage — which at the time (2004) was $5.15 per hour.
The penalty: pay at least 129 workers more than $2 million in minimum wage and overtime compensation.
What’s required
Under the FLSA, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour — or $2.13 in direct wages, if tips are considered part of wages. However, if an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s wage of $2.13 do not equal the $7.25 per hour, the employer must make up the difference.
Tags: $2 million, department of labor, dol, fair labor standards act, FLSA, minimum wage, Oriental Forest, ot
January 26th, 2010 at 12:28 am
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