John Stewart
Thurs., September 5, 2024
If you think you are experiencing an issue similar to the one involved in this lawsuit, please reach out to us for a free consultation. We can help you understand your rights and options.
A Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation recently recovered over $450,000.00 from a Honolulu air carrier that, according to the Department of Labor, failed to pay lawful pay and benefits owed to 250 employees while they worked on a USPS contract to transport mail between Hawaii airports.
The employer, Rhoades Aviation, Inc., operating as TransAir, has provided air cargo services and charters in Hawaii for decades, and fulfills contracts with USPS, UPS, FedEx, and PacificAir. According to the Department of Labor investigators, however, TransAir violated federal regulations and the Service Contract Act when it failed to pay employees at the correct prevailing wage rates, failed to disburse correct health and welfare benefits, holiday pay, and vacation pay, and failed to pay correct overtime wages.
DOL determined that TransAir violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) when it deducted 30 minutes from employees’ pay for lunch breaks, even the workers did not actually take their lunch breaks. Deducting pay for missed (or even just interrupted) meal periods is a common way for employers to violate the FLSA. The FLSA requires that employers treat short breaks of 20 minutes or less as compensable work time, meaning that an employee who misses just 10 minutes of a 30-minute meal period may be entitled to overtime pay for the full 30-minute meal period under the FLSA.
Although the FLSA allows for a maximum recovery period reaching back three years (and often only two years), Hawaii state law allows employees to recover for unpaid overtime reaching back for six years. In other words, Hawaii employees who have been paid for unpaid overtime under federal law reaching back two or three years, may have three to four additional years of damages they can still recover under Hawaii law.
This issue, inherent in Department of Labor investigations in states with longer recovery periods for overtime violations than federal law, can mean that wronged employees may miss their chance to be paid for years of unpaid overtime (and related damages) if they do not act to protect their rights.
If you have questions about your rights as an employee or union member, please do not hesitate to contact McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP at info@mselaborlaw.com or 202-833-8855.
