Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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NEW YORK -- Continental Sales and Service, Inc. (CSS), a nationwide employer engaged in sales support and merchandising, has agreed to pay 267 employees over $100,000 in overtime back wages as the result of a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigation.

The department's Wage and Hour Division office in White Plains, N.Y., revealed that merchandisers working for CSS at Lowe's home improvement stores in the area worked in excess of 40 hours per week, but were paid salaries that did not include overtime pay for the hours worked over 40.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires that covered workers be paid at least the federal minimum wage and one-and-one half times their regular rates of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a single work week. The law also requires employers to maintain adequate and accurate records of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

"The company believed that these employees were exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA, but our investigation showed otherwise," said Sonia Rybak, assistant district director for the Wage and Hour Division office in White Plains. N.Y. "When we brought this to the attention of CSS, the company agreed to come into compliance with the law and to perform a company-wide self-audit to determine which of its employees were due back wages and how much they were due."

CSS, which is based in Fuquay-Varina, N.C. and which has employees all over the country, performed the self-audit and determined that 267 employees in the Lowe's merchandising positions across the country were due a total of $100,480, which the company has agreed to pay.

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 provisions of the FLSA, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or contact the White Plains office at 914-682-6348. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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