Department Of Labor Orders Dialysis Companies To Pay Back Wages For Overtime Violations

Miami, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has ordered three companies that offer dialysis services to pay $110,819.00 in   back wages to employees. A total of 34 employees working at America Rental Center LLC, Apollo Renal Center LLC, and Olympus Healthcare Inc. will receive wages owed to them because their employer violated overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, authorities said.

The WHD investigators determined that the owner and operator of all three companies, Federico Dumenigo misclassified some employees as independent contractors. Instead of their pay being based on the hours they worked, they were paid a flat fee. This practice is an FLSA violation since Dumenigo failed to pay his workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. He also failed to keep a record of the number of hours his employees worked, which is a recordkeeping violation.

In a press release Tony Pham, Wage and Hour Division District Director in Miami, Florida, noted, “The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to educating employers and improving compliance with federal labor laws to protect American workers and level the playing field for law-abiding employers. Other employers should use the resolution of this case as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to avoid violations like those found in this case.”

WorkersCompensation.com reached out to a spokesperson about what could possibly happen if the back wages go unpaid, and they stated, “The Department makes every effort to resolve most compliance issues administratively. If appropriate, the Department may litigate and/or recommend criminal prosecution.”

The agency offers an array of resources to make sure that employers have all the tools they need to understand exactly what is required of them to comply with federal law, such as confidential calls to local WHD offices and online videos.

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