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ESA-WHD New Release: [01/27/1999]
Contact Name: John M. Chavez
Phone Number: (617) 565-2075
Release Number: BOS 99-015
CONNECTICUT EMPLOYERS ORDERED TO PAY $69,000 IN BACK WAGES FOR FEDERAL WAGE & HOUR VIOLATIONS
BOSTON, MA — American Health Foundation, Inc., (an Ohio company) and its wholly owned Connecticut subsidiary AHF/Connecticut Management, Inc., based in Farmington, have been ordered to pay 202 employees a total of $69,000 in back wages as the result of a court order issued by the U.S. District Court for Connecticut.
The order, agreed to by the parties and signed by U.S. District Judge Dominic J. Squatrito on January 26, 1999, resolves a suit filed against the defendants by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including failure to pay employees proper overtime wages and failure to maintain adequate and accurate payroll records.
According to Dianne Miller, Connecticut District Director for the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division in Hartford, the total amount of $69,000 is due 202 employees who worked in the companies' nursing homes, located in Hartford, Bloomfield and East Windsor, between October 30, 1994 and July 30, 1997. She noted that all of the employees were staff providing various types of care to the sick and aged individuals residing at the facilities. The court is allowing the defendants to make the payments according to an installment plan which requires the final payment to be made on or before January 21, 2000. Miller indicated that the company has made the first payment totaling $35,000 as required by the judgment.
Miller noted that the order also prohibits the defendants from future violations of the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. She also 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 Miller. The law, enforced by the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, sets the federal minimum wage at $5.15 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 Hartford, Conn.
The civil action file number for this case is 3:97cv01187(DJS).
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