Michigan landscaping company pays $97,286 in back wages and $48,241 in penalties
TROY, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has found Twin Pines Landscaping Inc. – based in Troy, Michigan – in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the labor provisions of the H-2B temporary visa program. An investigation by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the landscaping company failed to pay overtime, failed to pay required prevailing wages, and offered more favorable employment terms to temporary foreign employees than to U.S. workers.
Specifically, WHD investigators found the landscaping company violated H-2B requirements when it:
- Paid landscape laborers flat weekly salaries that failed to cover all of the hours that they worked at the required prevailing wage;
- Failed to comply with the provision prohibiting preferential treatment of H-2B employees by offering foreign employees free housing, which was not advertised on the job order when recruiting U.S. workers; and
- Failed to provide accurate earning statements.
The employer violated FLSA overtime requirements when it paid employees flat weekly salaries without regard to the number of hours they had actually worked. This practice resulted in violations when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but the employer failed to pay overtime.
Twin Pines paid 15 H-2B landscape laborers $97,286 in back wages to resolve the violations. In addition to the back wages, WHD assessed the employer $48,241 in civil money penalties.
“Any employer seeking to hire H-2B guest workers must abide by all of the program’s requirements,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell, in Detroit, Michigan. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to safeguarding American jobs, leveling the playing field for law-abiding employers and protecting vulnerable workers from being paid less than they are legally owed.”
Agency
Wage and Hour Division
Stay in Compliance
As employers utilizing the program are held to increasingly high standards, H-2B compliance is more crucial than ever. While many employers believe themselves to be in compliance, a third party may be able to provide a more accurate picture. The expert team at Phoenix Labor has over 20 years of H-2B experience, meaning they can help to ensure you are taking all of the right steps and that all of your pieces are in place.