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ESA-WHD New Release: [03/25/1997]
Contact Name: John M. Chavez
Phone Number: (617) 565-2075
Release Number: BOS 97-057
$45,000 IN BACK WAGES ORDERED TO BE PAID TO MASSACHUSETTS WORKERS FOR FEDERAL WAGE & HOUR VIOLATIONS BY OUT-OF-STATE EMPLOYER
BOSTON, MA — International Total Services, Inc., based in Cleveland, Ohio, has been ordered to pay 158 of its Massachusetts employees $45,000 in back wages as the result of a judgment issued by the U.S. District Court for the district of Massachusetts.
The order, agreed to by the parties and signed by U.S. District Judge Edward F. Harrington, resolves a suit filed against the defendant by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including failure to pay employees the applicable federal minimum wage.
According to Corey Surett, Massachusetts district director for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in Boston, the total amount of $45,000 is due employees who worked for the defendants’ sky cap baggage handling service at Logan Airport in East Boston, for the period of time between December 5, 1993 and January 10, 1997. He noted that these low wage workers received less than the required minimum wage because the employer had required them to pay for their uniforms and to work behind terminal ticket counters where they did not receive tips. (He explained that employers of tipped employees may pay those workers less than the minimum wage only if they can guarantee that tips will make up the difference.)
Surett noted that the order also prohibits the defendant, who agreed to entry of the judgment without admitting liability, from future violations of the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Surett stressed that the Wage and Hour Division has a strategy of tough, responsible, and consistent enforcement, which includes litigation when necessary.
Passed in 1938, the FLSA--also known as the federal wage and hour law--today covers more than 110 million workers nationwide, explained Surett. The law, enforced by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, sets the federal minimum wage at $4.75 per hour and generally requires overtime for hours worked more than 40 in any workweek. It also prohibits child labor abuse and requires employers to keep adequate time and payroll records.
The department’s legal action against the company followed an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division district office headquartered in Boston, Mass.
The civil action file number for this case is 96-10206-EFH.
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