The U.S. Department of Labor, following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and the filing of a consent order in federal court by the department’s Office of the Solicitor, has recovered a total of $310,193 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Bedford landscaper and contractor who underpaid 60 employees.
The division found that Ulster Property Services LLC and owner Kieran Rice violated the overtime, minimum wage, child labor and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act by doing the following:
- Paying 59 workers, whose duties included landscaping, snow removal and construction work, straight time wages for all hours worked, instead of paying them the required overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.
- Failing to pay one employee for all hours worked, resulting in the employee receiving less than the required minimum wage.
- Employing a 17-year-old employee to work as a driver without a valid driver’s license.
- Failing to maintain payroll and time records for all non-exempt employees.
- Failing to maintain records of dates of birth for employees under the age of 19.
In the consent judgment, entered and approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, Ulster Property Services and Rice agreed to pay the back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers, and $31,920 in civil money penalties to the department for willful wage violations. The employers separately paid $12,330 in civil money penalties related to the child labor violations.
Ulster Property Services and Rice also agreed and were ordered to comply with FLSA wage and recordkeeping requirements and cooperate with future Wage and Hour Division investigations. The consent judgment also forbids them from retaliating against employees and employing oppressive child labor. The division previously investigated the employers in 2019 and 2021.
“Since 1938, federal law has required employers to pay overtime wages when non-exempt employees work over 40 hours in a workweek. Employers are responsible for knowing and complying with the applicable provisions of federal wage and hour law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “Previous Wage and Hour Division investigations made Ulster Property Services and its owner aware of their responsibilities and our latest investigation has held them to account for willful violations.”
“The U.S. Department of Labor will continue to take action in court to protect workers’ rights to their earned wages and hold employers accountable for violating the law,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston.