麻豆原创

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recovered a total of $310,193 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Bedford, New Hampshire, landscaper and contractor who underpaid 60 employees. The fund recovery comes following an investigation by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and the filing of a consent order in federal court by the department’s Office of the Solicitor.

According to the division found that Ulster Property Services LLC and owner Kieran Rice violated the overtime, minimum wage, child labor and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act by doing the following:

• Paying 59 workers, whose duties included landscaping, snow removal and construction work, straight-time wages for all hours worked instead of paying them the required overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
• Failing to pay one employee for all hours worked, resulting in the employee receiving less than the required minimum wage.
• Employing a 17-year-old employee to work as a driver without a valid driver’s license.
• Failing to maintain payroll and time records for all non-exempt employees.
• Failing to maintain records of dates of birth for employees under the age of 19.

In the consent judgment, Ulster Property Services and Rice agreed to pay the back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers, as well as $31,920 in civil money penalties to the department for willful wage violations. The employers separately paid $12,330 in civil money penalties related to the child labor violations.

Ulster Property Services and Rice also agreed and were ordered to comply with FLSA wage and record-keeping requirements and cooperate with future Wage and Hour Division investigations. The consent judgment also forbids them from retaliating against employees and employing oppressive child labor. The division previously investigated the employers in 2019 and 2021.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor