Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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MONROE, Wis. --

The U.S. Department of Labor announced the recovery of $51,065 in back wages and overtime back pay for 111 low-wage workers employed at Roth Kase USA Ltd., a cheese producer located in Monroe, Wis. The Labor Department also issued $2,640 in fines for youth employment violations.

The investigation, conducted as part of a local initiative directed at cheese processors in Wisconsin by the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, determined that between November 2004 and November 2006 Kase did not compensate its employees for changing in and out of uniforms at the beginning and ending of their shift, which resulted in overtime violations. The company also allowed a 16-year-old minor employee to drive a company vehicle on several occasions and to work on or about a roof, both of which are violations of the youth employment provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“The workers in this case were not properly compensated for all the overtime hours worked and in the case of the minor, he was put into a situation that could have caused him serious injury or death,” said Jose Medina, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Minneapolis. “The Labor Department is committed to ensuring that workers are paid all the wages due to them and that they are working in a safe environment and within the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

The FLSA requires employees to be paid the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and, unless exempt, time-and-one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. Employers must also maintain accurate time and payroll records. The department’s youth employment regulations identify 17 hazardous occupations prohibited for workers under the age of 18, including restrictions on youths operating motor vehicles and banning most jobs in roofing operations.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions in fiscal year 2006 and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees. Back-wage collections last year represent a 30 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 14 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1 (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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