Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

Printer-Friendly Version

Press Releases

NEW YORK -- Master Concepts Ltd. of Bay Shore, New York, and the company’s owner have been ordered to pay a total of $287,215 in back wages and penalties to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to Irv Miljoner, district director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division in Westbury, N.Y., an investigation by his office found employees were not properly compensated for all the hours worked more than 40 in a single week; the employer was not maintaining proper records of employees’ hours of work and rates of pay; and one minor used power driven woodworking equipment. Also named in the Labor Department’s lawsuit was owner Vincent P. Hunter.

“We found employees working six days a week, 10 to 12 hours per day and they were only being paid straight time for the overtime hours,” said Miljoner. He added that “this court action demonstrates that the Labor Department is extremely serious about enforcing the FLSA and making sure that workers, including the most vulnerable low-wage employees, are always properly paid for all the hours they work.”

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the applicable minimum wage and one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for hours worked more than 40 per week. The law also requires employers to maintain accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

A consent judgment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, prohibits the defendants from future violations of the minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and youth employment provisions of the FLSA. The court order, signed by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco on May 19, also prohibits the defendants from taking retaliatory action against any employees who exercise their rights under the law and orders them to pay a total of $265,469 in back wages over a ten-month installment period. The payments to 76 current and former employees cover the period between February 2003 and April 2006.

The judgment also requires the defendants to pay to the Labor Department an FLSA civil money penalty of $20,400 and a child labor civil money penalty of $1,346. The defendants agreed to the entry of the consent judgment without admitting or denying any violations of the FLSA.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division Long Island district office (telephone: 516-338-1890) investigated this case, and the lawsuit was filed by the department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in New York City. For more information about the requirements of the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

###

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.