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ESA-WHD New Release: [11/20/1996]
Contact Name: Barry Haber
Phone Number: (216) 522-3892
Release Number: V-449
R.P. COATINGS CORPORATION AGREES TO PAY $120,000 TO 135 EMPLOYEES FOR ALLEGED MINIMUM WAGE VIOLATIONS
Chicago —R.P. Coatings Corporation of 4550 Nicky Blvd., Cleveland, has agreed to pay $120,000 plus $10,800 in interest to 134 former employees to settle charges of minimum wage violations alleged by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The settlement was reached with the Labor Department after the company agreed to comply with the Fair labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal wage and hour law. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that R.P. Coatings failed to pay the federal minimum wage of $4.25 (currently $4.75) to employees performing piece work in their homes and failed to keep proper records of the hours their employees worked.
The company, which had claimed the home workers were independent contractors and not subject to the federal minimum wage and other laws, fully cooperated throughout the course of the investigation, according to District Director Barry Haber of the Wage and Hour Division in Cleveland.
Haber said company records of employees were incomplete, so the Wage and Hour Division is asking home workers employed by R.P. Coatings from November 1994 through October 1996 to contact the division’s office in Cleveland at 522-3892 to give their current address and other information needed to receive their back wages.
They may also write to the Division at 1240 E. 9th St., Room 817, Cleveland, Ohio 44199. Letters should include their full name, address, social security number and phone number.
Haber explained that the Wage and Hour Division will be able to make back wage payments for up to two years, but if employees cannot be found by then, their money will go to the U.S. Treasury.
The FLSA law sets the federal minimum wage for most workers and generally requires overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in any workweek. It also requires employers to keep adequate time and payroll records and sets standards for the employment of minors.
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