Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- An Adrian, Mich.-based cabinet manufacturer has agreed to pay $348,217 in back wages to 103 current and former Las Vegas, Nev., manufacturing plant employees, plus $56,650 in civil penalties, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Investigators from the department’s Wage and Hour Division discovered that Merillat Industries did not pay required overtime to the workers as required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The company also failed to keep complete records of hours worked. The department found similar problems during a prior investigation of the company in 2004.

“The Department of Labor is committed to the strong enforcement of labor laws,” said George Friday Jr., western regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division. “In this case, the employees were not properly compensated for hours worked, and I am pleased that we were able to recover more than $348,000 in back wages for them.”

The employees were paid based on production, or piece rate, without regard to the number of hours worked. The FLSA requires that employers keep accurate records of all hours worked, including when workers are paid on a piece-rate basis. Under the law, nonexempt employees must be paid no less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for any hours worked over 40 per workweek.

The Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $171 million in back wages for over 246,000 workers and assessed nearly $7.9 million in civil penalties in federal fiscal year 2006.

The division’s Web site, www.wagehour.dol.gov, offers more information about the FLSA. For additional information, call the Wage and Hour Division’s office in Phoenix at (602) 514-7120 or the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243).

An online tool for determining overtime eligibility – the elaws FLSA Overtime Security Advisor – is available at www.dol.gov/elaws/overtime.htm.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.