Florida company manipulated accounting department’s numbers, pays $16,800 in back pay
An Apopka company paid $16,852 in back pay after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the company finagled with how it counted hours worked by accounting department employees.
Randall Mechanical owed that money to 20 employees, an average of $842.60 per worker.
Labor announced that its Wage and Hour Division found Randall, run by company president Jeffrey Condello, wouldn’t pay its accounting department employees overtime. Instead, Randall counted the overtime hours and doled them out to be used as paid time off, but paid in straight time.
Some companies do this and call it “comp time.” It’s a violation of the overtime part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Private employers are not permitted to bank overtime hours and use them as compensatory time off in future workweeks,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús said. “Employees must be paid all the wages they have legally earned, including overtime. We encourage all employers and employees to reach out to their local Wage and Hour Division office to learn their responsibilities and rights under federal law.”
Randall Mechanical also conveniently didn’t keep records of hours worked by some employees, a FLSA recordkeeping violation common to companies that have overtime violations.
Employers with Wage and Hour questions can call the U.S. Department of Labor at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers can use the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program to self-report violations and deal with them while avoiding litigation.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 7:36 AM with the headline "Florida company manipulated accounting department’s numbers, pays $16,800 in back pay."
