Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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CHICAGO -- The U.S. Labor Department announced today that Bellefleur Homes, Inc., a custom homebuilder in Elburn, Ill., has paid $56,624 to18 former or current employees as a result of overtime pay violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The company has also been assessed a civil money penalty of $5,544 for those violations.

An investigation conducted by department's Wage and Hour Division found that the company paid workers straight time for all hours worked and falsified payroll records to make it appear as if some overtime hours were paid at time and one-half the employees' regular rate of pay. In addition, they 'banked' some overtime hours which were paid at straight time in later pay periods. The company has filed an exception to the assessment of the civil money penalty.

"Workers have a right to receive all the pay legally due them and we will pursue those rights whenever necessary," said Chicago Wage and Hour Division District Director Patricia Lewis, who supervised the investigation. "We will also assess penalties when investigations find that an employer has falsified payroll records to hide the overtime violations."

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 per week. The FLSA also sets standards for the employment of youth.

The WHD recovered more than $212 million in back wages in fiscal year (FY) 2003, a 21 percent increase over the record setting amount of FY 2002. Average days to resolve a complaint decreased in FY 2003 from 129 days to 108 days. WHD assessed employers nearly $10 million in civil money penalties in FY 2003.

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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