ORLANDO, FL – Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor has investigated the pay practices of a Sanford heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor eight times and found violations in six of its inquiries – leading to the recovery of $155,865 in back wages for more than 440 workers.
Following the ninth investigation of Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc. by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ordered a resolution against the employer in a consent judgement. The court’s action led to the division’s recovery of $334,307 in back wages for 212 workers.
Investigators found Del-Air paid a piece-rate to installers regardless of how many hours they worked. The employer also failed to pay overtime to a warehouse manager when due. By failing to pay overtime when employees worked more than 40 hours in a week, and failing to include earned bonuses in the overtime rate, the employer violated Fair Labor Standards Act overtime requirements. The division also found that the employer did not record the start and end of employees’ workdays accurately, a FLSA recordkeeping violation. Due to the employer’s history of violations the division assessed $82,616 in civil money penalties for the violations found on the most recent investigation.
Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration operates establishments in Sanford, Clermont, Melbourne, Jacksonville, Tampa, Bradenton, Fort Myers and Kissimmee. The company performs installations on new residential construction, existing residential and commercial structures.
“Del-Air Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Inc. has repeatedly ignored its responsibility to pay its workers all of their hard-earned wages and routinely broken the law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “Our investigation and the court’s action recovered wages illegally denied to more than 200 workers and resulted in significant penalties for the employer.”
“We invite workers who believe they are not being paid legally and employers who are uncertain about their responsibilities to contact the Wage and Hour Division,” De Jesús added.
Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.
For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.
