New York Employment Attorney Blog
Recently, two companies, J. Siebold Construction and Finklestein-Morgan, a real estate management firm, agreed to a $1.23 million settlement for violations of the New York overtime law.
Apparently, construction workers performing services for the companies for the period October 2002 until August 2006 had not received time and a half for the overtime they worked while renovating apartment buildings throughout the Bronx. Instead of paying time and a half for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek, J. Siebold paid the construction workers “straight time,” i.e., their hourly rate without the additional overtime premium. This is a violation of not only the New York State overtime law, but of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Specifically, the agreement calls for J. Siebold to pay $1.07 million in overtime pay as well as $160,000 in interest and penalties, while Finklestein-Morgan is required to guarantee that the payments will be made. In addition, the companies are banned from retaliating against employees who came forward to complain about the lack of overtime pay.