Two California ice manufacturers have been given a $1M employment fine for shortchanging workers.
Seventy San Diego Ice Company workers and California Ice Company were reportedly deliberately given incorrect wages and overtime in excess of $527,687.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division spearheaded the investigation, which found the San Diego and Lake Elsinore-based companies in breach of multiple employment regulations.
Two Ice Manufacturers hit with $1M fine
“The owners of the San Diego Ice Company and California Ice Company willfully violated the rights of 70 hard-working people who work around the clock to help these companies be successful,” said Wage and Hour Division Assistant District Director Jose Medina in San Diego.
Both companies allegedly paid employees regular hourly rates for all hours worked rather than applying the federal requirement to “track and pay time-and-a-half their regular hourly rate for hours over 40 in a workweek.”
This incorrect processing and tracking of the staff payroll resulted in employees regularly working 16 hours of unpaid overtime weekly.
The San Diego Ice Company and California Ice Company will be subject to repaying the $527,687 in unpaid overtime and $527,687 in liquidated damages. The monies will be paid back to the impacted employees via a 12-month installment plan.
“On average, these employees will receive about $15,000 each, a sizeable amount for people trying to make ends meet on hourly wages,” continued Assistant District Director Medina.
The Wage and Hours Division also issued a $36,358 civil money penalty to both companies collectively as a result of their flagrant disregard for the regulations on employee pay in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“The U.S. Department of Labor will not tolerate such callous and illegal mistreatment of employees simply trying to provide for themselves and their families. We will use all available enforcement tools to hold employers accountable for compliance,” concluded Medina.
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