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Court orders Pontiac supermarket, restaurant to pay $192K in wages, dam ages, penalties for alleged retaliation against workers denied overtime

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Court orders Pontiac supermarket, restaurant to pay $192K in wages, damages, penalties for alleged retaliation against workers denied overtime [ http://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/sol/sol20241216 ] 12/16/2024 07:00 AM EST
PONTIAC, MI ‒ A federal judge has approved a consent judgment requiring the operators of Carnival Market Inc. - a Mexican specialty supermarket and restaurant in Pontiac - to pay $192,500 in back wages, damages and penalties, after an investigation found the employers illegally denied workers overtime wages and later demanded some of the workers kick back their back wages and damages to them. During a subsequent investigation of the company’s pay practices from at least January 2021 to January 2023, the department’s Wage and Hour Division learned the market’s operators, Jason Aviar and Chris Aviar, allegedly interfered with workers’ rights to speak to division investigators by instructing them to falsely tell investigators there were no violations.  “The U.S. Department of Labor will not allow employers to retaliate against workers in an effort to prevent their cooperation with federal investigations,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Z. Heri in Chicago. “Employers who fail in their legal obligation to pay workers their rightfully earned wages and violate workers’ rights to participate in a federal investigation will be held accountable under the law.”To resolve the matter, the department obtained a consent order and judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Dec. 16, 2024, that requires the restaurant and its owners to pay $192,500 in back wages, liquidated damages, compensatory damages and civil money penalties immediately. The amount due includes $5,000 in compensatory damages for retaliating against employees in the 2020 investigation, $5,000 in civil money penalties for repeated violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions, as well as $182,500 – representing $91,250 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – to 12 workers the division found were denied overtime pay from at least January 2021 to January 2023. In 2020, the Wage and Hour Division investigated and found Carnival Market had committed overtime violations by failing to pay 14 employees required overtime wages for hours worked over 40 in a week between October 2018 and September 2020. Investigators learned that, after agreeing with the division in 2020 to pay employees back wages for overtime violations, the employers demanded that five employees kick back their back wages and threatened them if they refused. In its filing, the division also alleged Carnival Market and its operators interfered with a second Wage and Hour Division investigation begun in 2023 by telling employees not to speak to investigators or to tell investigators there were no violations. The division’s second investigation of Carnival Market, which covered the period of January 2021 to January 2023, revealed the employers continued to violate overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act when they failed to pay some employees required overtime wages and paid non-exempt bakery employees on a salary basis with no overtime compensation. “Employers who shortchange their workers also harm local economies by reducing the amounts workers can spend day-to-day,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit. “Wage theft is a common problem, especially for low-wage workers who may be afraid to question their employers’ pay practices or to share their concerns with authorities. We encourage workers with questions about their rights to contact the Wage and Hour Division. They can speak to us anonymously if needed and in one of the many languages our staff understands.”In addition to paying the back wages, damages and penalties, Carnival Market must also audit and verify its current compliance with federal wage regulations, conduct FLSA training for managers, distribute and post fact sheets regarding workers’ federal rights, and provide records to the Wage and Hour Division, upon request, for at least two years. Senior trial attorney Benjamin Salk litigated the case on behalf of the department’s Office of the Solicitor.Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.Download the agency’s new Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – available in English and Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate. U.S. Department of Labor v. Carnival Market Inc., Jason Aviar, Chris AviarCivil Action No.24-cv-13031# # # body { font-size: 1em; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; color: #333333; }
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