Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Northern Boulevard Car Wash Inc., located in Flushing, N.Y., and Little Neck Car Wash Corp. of Little Neck, N.Y., both in Queens, have agreed to pay 65 employees a total of $350,392 in back wages and damages to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The suit was filed in April 2006 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and named as a defendant, in addition to the two car washes, Joseph Dayan, who, at the time, was president of both corporations. The suit followed an investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division that disclosed violations of the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

The department’s complaint alleged that Northern Boulevard Car Wash Inc. and Joseph Dayan had demanded that employees “kick back” back pay that those defendants had paid to employees following a prior investigation by the Wage and Hour Division. The complaint also alleged that both companies failed to maintain complete records of employee wages and hours as required by law, and failed to pay proper overtime and minimum wage earnings to employees.

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

Consent judgments, signed by Judge Edward R. Korman, prohibit the defendants from future violations of the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping provisions and order them to pay employees back wages and liquidated damages within 60 days.

Northern Boulevard Car Wash Inc. and Joseph Dayan have been ordered to pay 41 employees a total of $146,102.90 in back wages and $36,525.73 in liquidated damages. Little Neck Car Wash Corp. has been ordered to pay 24 employees a total of $134,211 in back wages and $33,552.75 in liquidated damages. The defendants also are prohibited from seeking kick backs of these back wage payments from employees. Finally, Northern Boulevard Car Wash Inc. and Joseph Dayan are ordered to pay to the Labor Department a civil money penalty of $15,785 and Little Neck Car Wash Corp. has been ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $11,220.

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 of Labor’s toll-free helpline at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov, and an interactive “e-laws advisor” providing detailed information about FLSA compliance is available at www.dol.gov/elaws/flsa.htm..

Chao v. Northern Boulevard Car Wash Inc. et al; Civil Action Number: 06-CV-1741 (EK)

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