In an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), 158 employees of a Kansas grocer were awarded $155,990 in back overtime pay and damages. Supermart El Torito was also assessed with a fine of over $187,000 for repeat violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
“When an employer shortchanges its workers their rightfully earned wages, such as overtime, knowingly, they take money out of workers’ pockets,” explained Wage and Hour District Director Reed Trone in Kansas City, Missouri. “Our investigation found Supermart El Torito chose to ignore the law.”
Improperly paying overtime
According to the DOL, the employer did pay employees overtime for 41 to 58 hours worked each week. The FLSA requires employees to be paid time and a half (1.5) for hours over 40 per week. However, Supermart El Torito paid workers straight time for any hours over 58 in any given week and gave it to the employees in cash. All hours over 40 worked in a given week should be paid at 1.5x the regular wage. In addition, the employer failed to keep accurate time records for employees. Supermart EL Torito has three locations, one in Topeka and two in Kansas City. The overtime violations were found at the store located at 1409 Central Avenue in Kansas City.
Get help with wages or compliance with FLSA
The FLSA offers many protections to workers. If you think your employer isn’t paying you correctly, or if you want to make sure your business is in compliance with federal laws pertaining to wages, both employees and employers can call the WHD helpline at 866-4US-WAGE for confidential assistance with wages and compliance under the FLSA. It doesn’t matter where employees are from.
The DOL also has a new app – Timesheet – for both iOS and Android devices that can help employees monitor their own hours and pay to ensure accuracy. Timesheet is available in English and Spanish.
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.
