Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. --

The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that 767 low-wage workers at the Double JJ Resort Ranch in Oceana County, Mich. will receive over $300,000 in back wages and interest following a court settlement resolving an investigation by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division.

“We are committed to ensuring that workers are paid the wages they have earned,” said James Smith, district director of the Detroit Wage and Hour office. “I am pleased that we have succeeded in recovering the minimum wage and overtime payments these workers were due.”

Double JJ Resort Ranch will pay $273,000 back wages, plus interest, to current and former workers, while Orbis Services, Inc., a staffing company previously utilized by Double JJ, will pay $26,000 under the settlement approved by the Federal District Court in Grand Rapids. Back wages and interest will total $310,472.

Workers were due back wages as a result of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which is the federal minimum wage and overtime pay law. The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in 2001 after a Labor Department investigation showed some workers were paid less than the FLSA minimum wage and many were working well over 40 hours per week without receiving overtime premium pay.

The company, which operates a hotel and convention center with golf course, tennis, camping, and horseback riding facilities, argued that its workers were exempt from FLSA minimum wage and overtime pay under a rule that excludes workers employed by seasonal amusement or recreation establishments. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected that argument, ruling that Double JJ is not a recreational establishment within the meaning of the exemption.

The FLSA requires covered employees to be paid the minimum wage for all hours worked and 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 Wage and Hour Division recovered nearly $200 million in back wages in fiscal year 2004 for more than 288,000 workers. For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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