U.S. Department of Labor issued the following announcement on June 24.
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Darshan Mundy – owner of seven Sacramento, California-area gas stations – has paid $340,470 in back wages and damages to 105 employees and $45,963 in penalties to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements.
Mundy – owner of four corporate entities that operate four Chevron stations in Sacramento, one Chevron station and one Valero station in Davis, and one Chevron station in Lodi – failed to pay the federal minimum wage when he withheld pay for employees’ first 24 hours of work as “training hours” until new hires completed a 90-day probationary period. The employer violated overtime requirements by paying straight time rates when employees worked more than 40 hours per week. In some instances, the employer falsified payroll records by reducing the number of hours shown to create the appearance that the employer had paid overtime. Additionally, the employer illegally deducted money from workers’ pay or collected it from them out-of-pocket to cover cash register shortages. Overtime violations also resulted when Mundy failed to combine the hours that employees worked across multiple locations in the enterprise during the workweek when determining whether overtime was due.
“This employer used a variety of schemes and illegal practices to deny employees their rightfully earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Assistant District Director Brandon Nuess in Sacramento, California. “We will continue to enforce the law so all employers abide by the same rules. We also encourage employers and employees to call us for assistance to improve their understanding of the labor standards and learn about our on-line educational tools, so violations like those found in this investigation can be avoided.”
Mundy signed a compliance agreement promising to use a biometric timekeeping system at all workplace locations, train all current employees on their rights under the FLSA regarding workplace retaliation and distribute information to future employees about their rights and how to file complaints.
Original source can be found here.