Florida-based landscaping business A Cut Above Landscape and Maintenance has been ordered to pay 85 employees $110,602 (£83,687) in back wages after an investigation by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) discovered it was violating federal law.
The investigation found that the organisation had violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by paying employees a flat rate per day, regardless of the number of hours they worked in a week, and did not take into account any hours its employees worked over the standard 40 hours per week.
In addition, the organisation failed to maintain an accurate record of the actual number of hours worked by its employees.
Tony Pham, district director at WHD, said: “When employers fail to track properly all the hours employees work, it often results in overtime pay violations.
“The US Department of Labor is committed to educating employers and improving compliance with federal wage laws to protect American workers and to level the playing field for law abiding employers. We encourage employers to reach out to us with questions and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to ensure they clearly understand their responsibilities.”
A Cut Above Landscape was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.