PITTSBURGH, PA — The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced that it reached an agreement with a Pennsylvania manufacturing company to recover unpaid worker wages and resolve allegations that the company violated several provisions of federal wage and labor laws. As part of the agreement, Pennsylvania-based Stoltzfus Structures LLC will pay $188,572 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 47 employees as well as an additional penalty in the amount of $30,800 for violations of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
According to an investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, Stoltzfus Structures violated the FLSA by failing to pay non-overtime exempt workers one and a half times the individual’s average hourly rate of pay. Under the FLSA, employers must compensate workers with overtime pay when the employee spends more than 40 hours per week on the job.
The employer, in this case, attempted to skirt the law by claiming that because some hourly workers have equity in the company, these employees were thereby exempt. Furthermore, the Labor Department claimed that the company violated the record-keeping components of the FLSA, which require employers to keep accurate payroll records detailing the hours work and wages earned by employees.
In addition to violating federal wage laws, Stoltzfus Structures also broke labor laws by allowing minors to operate heavy machinery and power tools outside of acceptable apprenticeship or vocational learning environments. The Labor Department claims the company allowed a 16-year-old employee to operate a table saw with a circular blade that resulted in a serious injury and also allowed half a dozen other 16-year-old employees to operate a pneumatic-powered staple gun and a battery-operated drill.
“We urge employers to avail themselves of the resources we provide to show them how to comply with federal pay and child labor laws,” said Wage and Hour District Director James Cain, in Philadelphia. “Employment opportunities for minors must never come at the expense of their safety.”
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