Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Sun Sewing Inc., a Brooklyn, N.Y. garment shop, has paid 44 employees more than $38,000 in minimum wage and overtime back wages following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division into alleged violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“Our investigation found that these employees had gone for two consecutive weeks without receiving a paycheck,” said Philip Jacobson, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in New York. “We also found that the employer’s time clock was shorting each employee by at least one hour per week. Finally, we found that employees had not been paid for overtime worked as a result of the two missed paychecks.”

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked more than 40 per week. It requires employers to keep accurate records of wages, hours and other conditions of employment, which Sun Sewing also did not do.

When informed of the alleged violations of federal law, the employer admitted to failing to meet its payroll obligations on May 28 and June 4, 2006, agreed to pay the back wages and to come into full compliance with the FLSA. As a result, 44 employees were paid a total of $38,534 in back wages.

Information about the requirements of the FLSA may be obtained by contacting the New York City district office of the Wage and Hour Division at (212) 264-8185 or by calling the department’s toll-free help line at 1-(866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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