Company settles lawsuit filed by US Labor Department
Under terms of a consent judgment entered into U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, Garvi LLC and owner, Sandhya Patel have paid six workers at Days Inn on Tabasco Road in Cincinnati $21,708 in overtime back wages.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the Days Inn hotel violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions. Investigators found that the company paid clerks at their normal hourly rates, without overtime, for workweeks of up to 72 hours. Additionally, the employer paid housekeepers on a per-room basis, without regard to how many hours they worked. This resulted in overtime violations when the housekeepers worked more than 40 hours in a week. The company also failed to maintain accurate time records as required by the FLSA.
The judgment orders the defendants to abide by the requirements of the FLSA in the future and to:
- Create and keep an employee handbook at the front desk that includes information about wages, overtime, and work schedules, along with contact information for the Wage and Hour Division.
- Provide each new employee a copy of that handbook upon hiring.
- Provide detailed wage statements to workers each pay period, allowing them to verify their hours worked, earnings, and pay.
In 2005, a division investigation found the same violations at the company involving both their own employees and those jointly employed by the hotel and International Staffing, of West Chester. The employers paid $7,812 in back wages to three employees as a result of that investigation.
The department called upon some of its Russian-speaking investigators to communicate with the workers in the course of this investigation.
“Most American workers cannot imagine being told to work more than 70 hours a week, almost twice the norm, without being paid overtime,” said George Victory, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Columbus. “Hotel workers are among the most vulnerable we see, generally earning low wages, with many facing language barriers and a fear of stepping forward when subject to wage violations. The U.S. Department of Labor will use every tool available to us, including litigation, to protect the rights of these workers.”
The FLSA requires that covered, non-exempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also must maintain accurate time and payroll records.
