Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Rossi Concrete, Inc., located in Fallbrook, has paid almost $95,000 to 19 employees following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

"The Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that workers are compensated for all hours they work. This investigation resulted in the recovery of nearly $95,000 in back minimum and overtime wages," said Tammy D. McCutchen, Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division.

An investigation conducted between January 2000 and January 2002 determined that Rossi Concrete did not pay truck drivers for drive time when they transported equipment from the company's yard to the worksite or from site to site. Other employees loaded materials onto trucks but were not paid until they started working at the jobsite.

"Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a workday usually includes all time that an employee is required to be on the employer's worksite, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace," explained McCutchen. "Employee's at Rossi Concrete were on duty when they loaded trucks and transported materials and should have been paid for those hours worked."

The FLSA requires covered employees to be paid the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. Employers must also comply with state minimum wage and overtime laws.

The company, which engages in decorative concrete work, was also accessed a civil money penalty of $8,075 for repeat violations of the FLSA. In 1999, an investigation found that the firm was paying straight time for all overtime hours worked and paid 52 employees nearly $47,000 in back wages.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Wage and Hour office in San Diego at (916) 619 557-5606 or the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4US WAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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