Two Checkers locations in Montgomery have been ordered to pay nearly $27,000 in back wages and damages by the U.S. Department of Labor. The department found that these restaurants had violated labor laws by allowing managers to illegally deduct time from workers’ paychecks.
According to the department, 36 employees of Checkerboard Montgomery and Checkerboard Montgomery were affected by the actions.
The department found that managers had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by:
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- Clocking out employees even while they continued working.
- Deducting break time from workers’ schedules regardless of whether they took breaks.
- Deleting entire portions of shifts from pay records.
- Altering timecards to reduce workers’ hours and not paying them required overtime.
The employer was assessed $3,636 in civil penalties for repeated violations, in addition to back wages and damages, by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.
Investigators discovered that Checkerboard Montgomery and Checkerboard Montgomery 2 had hired six employees who were only 15 years old. These young workers were found to be working for over three hours a day and more than 18 hours per week during school days. Additionally, they were working for more than eight hours a day when school was not in session, and even past 9 p.m. between June 1 and Labor Day. Furthermore, they were working past 7 p.m. during the rest of the year. These violations of federal child labor laws were uncovered during the investigation.
The employer was charged $5,228 in civil penalties by the division.
According to Kenneth Stripling, the District Director of the Wage and Hour Division, it is crucial for the Department of Labor to take action when employers engage in unethical practices, such as allowing managers to manipulate time records in order to cut labor costs. Stripling emphasizes that the rights of workers must be protected and that these unlawful actions should not be overlooked, as they not only harm employees but also create challenges for law-abiding employers.
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