Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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TAMPA, Fla. -- Gannaway Builders has agreed to pay $127,106 in back wages to 33 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division intervened on behalf of the employees and found that the Redington Shores, Fla., employer violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“When management hires employees, those employees are protected by the FLSA and have a right to the federal minimum wage,” said James Schmidt, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Tampa District Office. “In accordance with federal labor law, employers cannot withhold those wages or fail to pay them.”

The 33 employees received no wages after the company missed payrolls in June and July. The company agreed that the employees are due a collective $44,432 in back wages.

In addition, Wage and Hour Division investigators determined that the company failed to make overtime payments when employees covered by the FLSA worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. As a result, 24 of the 33 employees are due additional overtime payments totaling $82,674.

Gannaway Builders is a commercial and residential construction contractor.

The FLSA requires covered employees to be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. The FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay for bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees.

The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division concluded 30,467 compliance actions and recovered a record $220 million in back wages for more than 341,000 employees in fiscal year 2007. Back-wage collections in fiscal year 2007 represent a 67 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 58 percent since fiscal year 2001.

For more information, call the department’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243); visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov; or contact the Tampa District Office of the Wage and Hour Division, 4905 West Laurel St., Room 300; phone 813-288-1242.

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