Houston Grocer Sued for $2 Million in Back Wages

October 17th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

When an employer enters into an agreement with attorneys of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), it’s probably better to honor that agreement. A Houston grocer faces $268,812 in penalties after allegedly welching on a deal with the U.S. Department of Labor.

A suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleges that employees at 4 grocery stores owned by Hai Du Duong and his wife, Ha Duong, were not paid the minimum wage. The employees also did not receive overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours per week. Manager Tommy Vo is also named in the suit, as is the Hong Kong Group.

Initially, an employee filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. After an investigation, the department found that the company had not paid the appropriate minimum wage, and overtime wages between October 2002 and October 2004.

At that time, the Duongs agreed to pay 119 employees more than $161,500 in back wages, and to comply with the minimum wage and overtime laws in the future. According to the DOL, the Duongs did pay the back wages to employees. However, the Duongs demanded that the employees return the money to them. 

As a result, the Department of Labor launched another investigation and discovered that the company owes more than $2 million in back wages from March 2003 to October 2006. The DOL also assessed a penalty of $268,812 for “willful” violations, based on the company’s past performance.

“The Department of Labor is committed to enforcing the law to ensure that employees receive the wages to which they are legally entitled,” said Wage and Hour Division Administrator Paul DeCamp. “In this case, the department recovered more than $2 million dollars in overtime back wages for workers employed by Hong Kong Group.”

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, employees must be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked. Employees who work more than 40 hours per week are entitled to 1.5 times their usual hourly rate. The current minimum wage is $5.85 per hour. Until July 24, 2007, the federal minimum wage had remained at $5.15 per hour for more than a decade.

By state law, the Texas minimum wage is the same as the federal rate.

The Duongs, Mr. Vo and the Hong Kong Group deny any wrongdoing.

This is just the most recent in a series of minimum wage violations uncovered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

In September, two companies agreed to pay nearly $1 million in unpaid overtime to 382 workers employed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The workers were employed by L&R Security Inc. of New Orleans and HKA Enterprises Inc. of Duncan, South Carolina as subcontractors for CH2M Hill of Englewood, Colorado under a FEMA contract. Employees worked as security guards at FEMA trailer sites and in debris removal, but were not paid overtime in accordance with federal law.

In August, five jointly-operated restaurants in Long Island, New York were ordered to pay almost $1 million to 191 low-wage workers. The employees had been forced to work long hours for wages less than the minimum wage, without overtime pay.  The court ordered that if the employers did not pay up, their restaurants could be sold and the proceeds used to pay the employees.

In late July, the U.S. Department of Labor forced Desert Plastering, Inc., a Las Vegas Nevada firm, to pay nearly $1.2 million in back pay to 1060 employees. The feds found that Desert Plastering had not paid required overtime to lathers, finishers, plasterers and estimators who worked up to 58 hours per week.

Last 10 posts by Amelia

« Aetna Embraces Employees with Disabilities
U.S. Dept. of Labor Gives Workers $44.1 Million »
Posted in Employment Laws, Federal Minimum Wage, Minimum Wage, Overtime, Texas, Wage and Hour

RELATED LINKS

Subscribe to RSS

Subscribe to this blog via email
Delivered by FeedBurner
add