According to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, compensable hours include all the time that an employee is required to be on the employer’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed workplace. According to the lawsuit, the car wash company’s owners would clock out employees when the amount of business dropped, then clock employees back in when business picked up. The employees, however, were required to stay at work while they were off the clock.

The Wage and Hour Division says that problems adhering to Fair Labor Standards typically arise when employers “fail to recognize and count certain hours worked as compensable hours.”

In a report by the Tennessean, Megan Macareg, director of Middle Tennessee branch of Jobs with Justice, a national organization that defends workers against unfair employment practices, said the car wash employees “didn’t have anywhere to sit or eat.”

“To a large extent, the company has cleaned up its act, but the stealing of wages is a massive problem,” Macareg said.

Wage theft activist and author Kim Bobo traveled to Nashville to attend a rally celebrating the settlement. Bobo is the executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a Chicago-based organization that appeals to the shared convictions of all religions in protecting the rights of waged workers.

Bobo, who believes that wage theft has become an epidemic in the U.S., blames corporate greed, the tough economy, and lack of government involvement. “Over the last decade, we have seen an abdication of the role of the government enforcing labor laws,” she said.

SOURCE: Fair Labor Standards Act › Nashville workers settle FLSA complaint against employer

Smith’s restaurant in Bolivar will pay more than $36,000 in fines and back wages stemming from its violations of the FLSA’s overtime, minimum wage, and child labor regulations. $34,625 of the money recovered by the Wage and Hour Division will compensate 54 employees for back wages.

Investigators found the restaurant had violated minimum wage laws by skimming money from the servers’ hourly pay to compensate bus staff. The restaurant also paid regular wages to ten hourly employees for time worked over 40 hours per workweek, which constitutes a violation of the FLSA standards for overtime pay.

The restaurant had to pay nearly $1,500 in penalties to the Labor Department for allowing employees under 18 years old to work more than three hours on school days and past 9 p.m. during the summer.  The FLSA prohibits workers under age 18 from working more than three hours on school days (18 hours per week) and eight hours on days with no school (40 hours per week). Minors may not work work later than 7 p.m. when school is in session or 9 p.m. during summer break.

The restaurant has cooperated fully with the Department of Labor, reports the Bolivar Herald-Free Press.

“The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting the rights of workers by ensuring that they receive the wages to which they are entitled,” James Koren, Kansas City district director of the Wage and Hour Division, told the Bolivar Herald-Free Press.

“Also, the department’s child labor provisions serve to strike a balance among providing invaluable work experience to our nation’s youth, safety and educational responsibilities,” he said.

SOURCE: Fair Labor Standards Act › Missouri restaurant pays back wages and penalties for FLSA violations

The Company plans to continue to defend its position in this case, and, at this time, does not believe an adverse resolution will have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements taken as a whole. The Company presently does not know whether the plaintiffs intend to challenge the ruling.

About Dollar General

Dollar General is a Fortune 500(R) discount retailer with 8,164 neighborhood stores as of July 28, 2006. Dollar General stores offer convenience and value to customers by offering consumable basic items that are frequently used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids and cleaning supplies, as well as a selection of basic apparel, house wares and seasonal items at everyday low prices. The Company store support center is located in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Dollar General’s Web site can be reached at www.dollargeneral.com.

SOURCE: Court decertifies class in Dollar General wage and hour lawsuit, by Business Wire

SOURCE: Fair Labor Standards Act › Court decertifies class in Dollar General wage and hour lawsuit