Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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PHILADELPHIA -- Two Richmond, Va. day care centers and their owner have been ordered by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, to refrain from violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under terms of a separate settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor, the day care centers will pay $6,000 in back wages to five employees.

The defendants, Tutor Time Family Corporation, Starling International, Inc., and Donald Goff, own and operate day care centers in Richmond as a single enterprise. The Labor Department's complaint alleged they did not pay overtime to employees whose combined hours of work at both day care centers exceeded 40 hours per week.

According to Bruce Clark, district director in Richmond for the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, employees who worked at both centers each week were treated as if they worked for separate employers. The effect was to eliminate overtime pay.

"Employees who regularly worked more than 40 hours per week were given a paycheck from each center for half of their total number of hours, regardless of the number of hours they actually worked for each center," said Clark. "They did not receive any overtime pay, because payroll records did not show more than 40 hours at either center. However, the employer did pay overtime after 80 hours in a two week period which indicated that they were aware of the overtime provisions."

As part of an initiative focused on the day care industry in the Richmond area, the Wage and Hour Division mailed over 10,000 Day Care Fact Sheets to employers through the Virginia Department of Social Services and will start investigations of selected day care centers this month.

The FLSA is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division and requires that covered employees be paid the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour for all hours worked and time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

For more information, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov

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