Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK, NY -- MSC Painting Corp., Scarsdale, N.Y., and president Charles W. McGuire Jr., have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The defendants will pay a total of $120,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 31 employees as part of the settlement.

Entered in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the consent judgment orders the defendants to pay $82,019.27 in minimum wage and overtime back wages and $37,980.73 in liquidated damages. The judgment also prohibits the defendants from future violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA.

“This employer had maintained no records of his employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment and remained uncooperative throughout our investigation,” said Sonia Rybak, assistant district director for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in White Plains. “We made repeated efforts, without success, to get this employer to come into compliance with the law and pay his employees the back wages they were due. When an employer refuses to abide by the law, we will not hesitate to take legal action.”

The FLSA requires that companies pay covered employees 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.

An investigation by the Wage and Hour Division found that employees of MSC Painting Corp., which does business as MSC Inc., were required by the employer to work many workweeks of more than 40 hours each without being compensated properly for overtime hours worked. Many employees were also paid with checks they were unable to cash, resulting in the minimum wage violations discovered during the investigation. Finally, the investigation found that the employer maintained virtually none of the employment records required by law.

The consent judgment, signed May 5 by U.S. District Judge Charles L. Brieant, orders MSC and McGuire to come into full compliance with all requirements of the FLSA and to pay the back wages and liquidated damages in installments over six months. To ensure the defendants’ future compliance with the law, the judgment includes a compliance program they must follow. If they fail to comply with any provisions of the judgment, the defendants can be found in contempt of court.

The White Plains Area Office of the Wage and Hour Division conducted this investigation and the department’s lawsuit was filed by the Regional Solicitor’s Office in New York City. For more information about the provisions 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.

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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.