Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- SOS Security Services Inc., Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and company president, Edgardo Batiz Ramia, have agreed to pay 65 employees a total of $137,451 in back wages and interest to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

An investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division found that SOS Security did not properly compensate employees for all hours worked and was not maintaining proper records of employees’ hours of work and rates of pay.

“This court action,” said David R. Heffelfinger, director of the Wage and Hour office in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, “demonstrates that the Labor Department is very serious about enforcing the FLSA and ensuring that employees are properly paid for all the hours they work, in particular those workers employed in low-wage industries.” He noted that most of the affected workers were security guards who were working more than 40 hours a workweek without the additional compensation for overtime hours.

A complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and a consent judgment was signed April 6 by U.S. District Judge Jay A. Garcia-Gregory. The judgment prohibits the defendants from future violations of the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA and requires them to pay 65 employees $136,044 in overtime back wages plus $1,497 in interest according to an installment plan. The payments cover the period between Feb. 9, 2002 and Feb. 7, 2004.

The defendants are also required to tell their employees about their rights under the FLSA and to post the FLSA posters explaining those rights where employees may view them.

The FLSA requires that employees be paid at least the applicable minimum wage and time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. It also requires employers to keep accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division Puerto Rico district office investigated this case, and the lawsuit was filed by the department’s Regional Solicitor’s Office in New York City. For more information about the requirements of 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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