Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

Printer-Friendly Version

Press Releases

Hartford, Conn. -- Interstate Navigation Company and Nelseco Navigation Company, doing business as The Block Island Ferry, have agreed to pay $160,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 114 present and former employees to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to Dianne Miller, Hartford District Director for the Department's Wage and Hour Division, an investigation by her agency found that the New London, Conn.-based ferry boat operators had misclassified deckhands and bartenders as exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and also had failed to properly maintain records of hours worked.

The FLSA requires that covered workers be paid one-and-one-half times their regular rates of pay for all hours worked above 40 in a single work week and that adequate and accurate records of workers' wages, hours and other conditions of employment be kept.

"While the FLSA does contain an overtime exemption for shipboard workers who spend at least 80 percent of their work hours navigating or helping to navigate a vessel, that 'seamen's exemption' clearly does not apply to these workers," said Miller. "The deckhands primarily loaded and unloaded material while the bartenders operated on-board snack bars."

The judgment, signed by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson on June 24, 2002, resolves the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford on April 12, 2001. Under it, the defendants, without admitting liability, agree to pay back wages covering the period between April 12, 1999 and March 24, 2002, and to submit proof of payment to the Wage and Hour Division no later than Nov. 30, 2002. Additionally, the defendants represent that they have been in compliance since March 24, 2002. Finally, the judgment enjoins them from future overtime and recordkeeping violations and prohibits them from withholding payment of the back wages.

For more information on federal overtime pay laws, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the Hartford district office at 860-240-4160. Information is also available on the Internet at www.dol.gov.

###

U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.