Florida roofer fiddled with pay for employees from a drug addiction program, Labor says
A Florida state senator’s Gainesville roofing contracting company paid $31,673 in back wages after violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and withholding earned money from employees in a drug addiction recovery program.
That’s what the U.S. Department of Labor announced about Perry Roofing, which Labor said did business as Perry Roofing Contractors. Florida Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, founded Perry Roofing long before his terms in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate and remains Perry Roofing’s registered agent in state records..
That back pay went to 30 workers, $1,055.76 per employee.
A phone message left for Perry has not been returned.
A Wage and Hour Division investigation said Perry figured out overtime rates without including “production-related and profit-sharing bonuses in the calculation.” Also, Perry didn’t keep records on the time at work for employees paid piece rate, a pay method that goes by the number of units produced.
From the Department of Labor’s statement: “Investigators also found [Perry] illegally banked regular and overtime earnings for workers recruited from Gainesville’s Santa Fe Bridge Community Work Release Center.”
When workers from the center exceeded 40 hours, Labor said, Perry held onto what they made above straight time minimum wage as well as their overtime pay rate. Then, instead of paying them all the workers earned on payday, Perry let workers “draw from the overtime bank as needed in the form of gift cards or other advances.”
“Employers must pay their workers all of the wages they have earned,” said a statement from Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús. “We encourage other employers to use this investigation’s outcome as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law.”
The Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website contains information on how to file a complaint. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607.
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 8:49 AM with the headline "Florida roofer fiddled with pay for employees from a drug addiction program, Labor says."
