U.S. Department of Labor issued the following announcement on Feb. 19.
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland has entered a consent judgment ordering hotel owner and manager Akhilbhai Patel to pay $78,575 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 34 current and former employees at two Edgewood, Maryland locations. The Department also assessed Patel a $6,440 civil money penalty due to the willful nature of the violations.
WHD investigators found that Patel – manager of Blissful Enterprises LLC, and manager and owner of ENA Hotels LLC – violated the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Investigators determined Patel paid some employees flat salaries, without regard to the number of hours that they worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when these employees worked more than 40 hours in a week, yet were not paid overtime. The employer further violated overtime requirements when it paid some workers their straight-time hourly rate, rather than time-and-a-half, for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.
"The violations committed by this employer denied workers the wages they were legally due," said Wage and Hour Division Acting District Director John DuMont, in Baltimore. "We offer a wide variety of tools that explain the requirements of the law, and encourage employers in all industries to contact us with any questions about compliance. Our goal is to prevent violations from occurring."
Original source can be found here.