Stillwell Limited Inc.—operator of Alpha & Omega Mortuary Service and Crematory in Oklahoma City—will pay $231,390 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to 66 employees for not paying overtime. Some of the workers worked more than 50 hours in a week, but they were only paid their straight wage instead of time-and-a-half as required by federal law. Stillwell also failed to keep accurate records. The Department of Labor stepped in to protect workers and recover the back wages.
Protecting workers’ rights
An article from KFOR, a local news station, reports that some of the employees were already getting their back pay last November, but not everyone had been made whole yet. This led to one employee complaining to the Department of Labor, which launched an investigation recovering the back wages and damages.
Wage and Hour Division District Director Michael Speer in Oklahoma City said, “We are committed to protecting workers and providing clear and confidential compliance assistance to any employee or employer with questions.”
Employees deserve fair wages
Stories like this should make taxpayers mad. These low-paid, hard-working employees were denied benefits owed to them. They provided an important service to their community, but their employer cheated them out of hard-earned money. Businesses may not like paying overtime, but it’s required under the law with a few exceptions. How many community resources were used to make up the loss to the family who didn’t get paid for their time worked?
Employees can contact the Wage and Hour Division of the DOL to make a complaint about wages, regardless of their immigration status. Employers can also contact the division for confidential compliance assistance. Government workers can communicate in over 200 languages on the toll-free number 1-866-487-9243.
The DOL as has an new app, Timesheet, which can help workers track their hours and pay to ensure accuracy. It’s available in both English and Spanish and free in the App Store and on Google Play.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
