Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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MIAMI -- The operators of three hotels in Miami have agreed to pay $57,230 in back wages to 84 employees after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The investigation was conducted as part of a department’s initiative to ensure that low-wage workers are being properly compensated. Employees at the hotels handled a number of tasks including housekeeping, maintenance, and front desk duties.

“This department is committed to enforcing the federal overtime laws to ensure that all workers are paid the wages they have earned,” said Christine Schott, assistant director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Miami District Office.

Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the three hotels – Grand Emperador Hotel, Hotel Presidente, and the Everglades Hotel – violated the overtime provisions of the FLSA by paying their employees straight time for all hours worked. The hotels are incorporated separately but are owned and managed by the same individuals as a single enterprise.

Under the FLSA, an enterprise is defined as consisting of related activities performed for a common business purpose through a unified operation or common control. Covered enterprise employers must meet the federal minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Act with respect to all employees who are covered either because they are individually engaged in interstate or foreign commerce or in the production of goods and services for such commerce. The FLSA requires covered, nonexempt employees to be paid time and one-half their regular pay rate for hours worked over 40 per week.

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

For more information about the FLSA, call the department’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243); visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov; or contact the Wage and Hour Division office in Miami, 10300 Sunset Drive, Room 255; telephone: (305) 596-9874.

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