Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Five commonly owned and operated construction companies in the Hudson Valley, along with their owner and supervisor, have agreed to pay 55 employees more than $126,000 in back wages and interest to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, named as defendants Lema Industries Inc., Lema Maintenance and Landscaping Corp., and Lema Construction Inc., all of Yorktown Heights, N.Y. Also named were Wappingers Falls Construction Corp. of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., and Philipstown Construction, Inc. of Cold Spring, N.Y., as well as Manuel Lema, supervisor of the defendant corporations. José Lema, owner and president of all the defendant corporations, except for Wappingers Falls Construction, for which he serves as manager/supervisor, was also named as a defendant.

An investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division Hudson Valley Area Office in White Plains, N.Y., revealed that, beginning in August 2001, employees working for these various companies were required to work overtime hours but were not properly compensated. The investigation also disclosed that the employers failed to keep required records that showed, among other information, hours these employees worked each day and week.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the applicable minimum wage as well as one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. The law also requires that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.

A consent judgment, signed by U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson on May 25, 2007, prohibits the defendants from committing future violations of the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA. Further, the judgment orders the defendants to pay overtime back wages plus interest totaling $126,692. The payments are to be made in 43 monthly installments beginning April 15, 2007, and ending October 15, 2010. If the defendants fail to make any payments, the court will appoint a receiver with power to seize and liquidate the defendants’ assets to satisfy the back wage payment order.

Finally, the court has ordered the defendants to orally advise all their employees in English and Spanish of their rights under the FLSA, the terms of this judgment, and the rights of employees to engage in activity protected by the law without fear of retaliation.

The Wage and Hour Division’s Albany district and Hudson Valley area offices in New York conducted this investigation, and the department’s suit was filed by the Labor Department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in Manhattan. For more information about the provisions of the FLSA, call the department’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

Chao v. Lema Industries Inc., et al; Civil Action Number: 04-CV-6633

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