Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The owner of a Honolulu-based maritime company, Smith Tankermen Services, has agreed to pay $60,000 in overtime back wages to six employees who had been improperly classified as exempt from overtime pay.

An investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the employees, who load petroleum products to and from barges and onto ships at local piers throughout Hawaii, did not qualify for the “seaman” exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and, therefore, were entitled to overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week.

In a consent judgment filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, the company’s owner, Gordon L.K. Smith, agreed to pay the workers the overtime wages due for work performed between October 2001 and July 2004. Smith also agreed to operate all his corporations in compliance with overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the FLSA in the future.

“This action reflects the Department of Labor’s commitment to protecting overtime rights and ensuring that workers receive the wages they have earned,” said George Friday Jr., regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, San Francisco. “The agreement also extends the protection of the Fair Labor Standards Act to the employees of all the corporations operated by the defendant.”

The Wage and Hour Division offers a user-friendly Web site -- www.wagehour.dol.gov -- to help employers properly pay and classify their employees. Information about the FLSA is also available from the Honolulu Wage and Hour office at 808-541-1361 or the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4US-WAGE (1-866-487-9243).

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