Several BP, Mobil, and Sunoco gas stations have been forced to pay over $1m in back wages and damages.
The charges come as part of a Department of Labor investigation into employment conditions at the locations across Bronx, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.
“The U.S. Department of Labor does not hesitate to pursue all actions, including litigation, to protect workers whose employers fail to fulfil their legal obligations,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “The department has zero tolerance for employers who choose to disregard federal wage requirements.”
Gas stations to pay over $1m in back wages and damages
The case involved fifteen locations and more than 100 current and former employees as part of a federal investigation. It originated from a case lodged at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2022.
The case centered around Jagjit Singh, who was found to have “failed to pay employees overtime, paid some less than minimum wage, and did not keep wage records as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
The Department of Labour found that Singh violated federal law by doing the following:
- Withholding overtime pay from employees who often worked well over 40 hours per week, including some who exceeded 85 hours per week; instead, paying straight-time rates when the required overtime rates were owed.
- Failing to pay some employees at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
- Not maintaining accurate or complete records of wages, hours and other employment conditions. Some stations had no records before 2017 or incomplete records.
Singh will pay $549,673 in back wages and he and his companies will pay the Department of Labour $75,655 in civil money penalties.
“As an owner of 15 gas stations, Jagjit Singh deliberately and illegally denied over one hundred employees and their families of hard-earned wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, New York.
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