Carroll Township paving company to pay $114K after Labor Department investigation
MONONGAHELA – A Carroll Township road-paving contractor has agreed to pay 11 employees $51,302 in back wages and an equal sum in liquidated damages under the terms of a consent judgment entered in federal court two months ago, the U.S. Labor Department announced Wednesday.
Victor Paving and Construction Inc. of 738 Route 481 will pay $102,604 to resolve the payroll issues, plus an additional $12,100 civil penalty for “repeat and willful violations” that were found in the investigation, the department said in a news release.
“Victor Paving has clearly made a practice of taking advantage of the vulnerable, low-wage workers it hires by undercutting their wages,” said John DuMont, director of the Pittsburgh district office of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. “This employer went to great lengths to conceal the overtime worked by its employees. The resolution of this case sends a clear message that the Wage and Hour Division will not tolerate repeat violators of the law, and will use every enforcement tool available, including litigation, to ensure that workers are paid every penny they have rightfully earned.”
The April 5 judgment resolves a lawsuit filed four days earlier in federal court after an investigation by DuMont’s division, which determined the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and record-keeping provisions.
Investigators found that, from September 2012 to September 2015, Victor Paving failed to pay employees working as members of its road crew legally required overtime, but instead falsified time and payroll records to create the appearance that no overtime was worked by its employees.
Victor Paving, founded in 1977 and owned by Victor E. Zeni, recorded fewer than 40 hours on the payroll for each worker, but inflated their hourly rates to compensate for the unrecorded hours, at straight time rates, the Labor Department said. For example, a worker who actually worked 60 hours, at $10 per hour, and who should have received overtime for the hours worked beyond 40, would instead show up on the payroll as having worked only 30 hours, but at a rate of $20 per hour.
The division previously investigated the company three times for failing to pay workers the proper FLSA wages.
Zeni did not respond to a message left at his company Wednesday. His attorney, Jay F. Glunt of Pittsburgh, declined that afternoon to comment on the case.