Lindy Business Denied 51 Workers Overtime Pay, $333K of Damages: DOL

LINDENHURST, NY — The U.S. Department of Labor recovered more than $333,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 51 employees of a Lindenhurst maintenance company, after it issued separate checks to workers, masking its failure to pay overtime wages.

Employees at Professional Building Maintenance Corp., located at 119 New York Ave., worked as many as 80 hours a week or more, an investigation with the department's Wage and Hour Division determined.

Owner Brady Patruno paid employees straight-time hourly rates instead of paying overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek, the department said.

Employees were also paid overtime hours in a pay period by issuing more than one check, —one from the company’s payroll account for the first 40 or fewer hours of work, and a second check from another account for overtime hours.

However, the Patruno, did not pay the required overtime rate for hours over 40 in a workweek, the department said.

Instead, the company issued checks for overtime hours at straight-time hourly rates either from a second company bank account and/or from straw corporations that Professional Building Maintenance Corp. passed off as subcontractors.

The department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor "revealed the employers’ scheme" after it obtained an administrative search warrant and assisted the division in obtaining third-party bank subpoenas to get the payroll records and canceled checks.

The investigation recovered $166,702 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages and led the department to assess $15,432 in civil money penalties because of the "willful nature" of the violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the department said.

“Employers who wrongly believe they can disregard the law and deprive workers of their hard earned wages will face significant consequences when their illegal actions are discovered,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, New York. “Workers and employers with questions about their rights and responsibilities under federal law should feel free to contact the Wage and Hour Division.”

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the required rate of pay for all hours over 40 in a workweek.

Patch has reached out to Professional Building Maintenance Corp for comment.