DEPT. OF LABOR WANTS TO ENSURE VIOLATIONS AREN’T REPEATED

Companies that actively try to evade Fair Labor Standards Act provisions are playing with fire – especially because the Dept. of Labor (DOL) has recordkeeping requirements in place to try to prevent just that kind of thing.

Take Colmonero’s Pallets Inc., a pallet manufacturer in Phoenix. A DOL investigation found the company tried all kinds of tactics to avoid paying overtime.

This includes paying employees as vendors who received a flat rate, giving under-the-table cash payments instead of time-and-a-half and even handing out checks under fake names to avoid paying overtime.

Colmonero’s went so far as to destroy timecards at the end of each pay period.

The DOL ordered the company to pay $139.154 in back wages, an equal amount in damages and an additional $21,692 for the nature of the violations.

How long to keep records

Inaccurate or missing payroll records are a sure way to end up in trouble with the DOL.

Remember that regardless of the timekeeping method you choose, payroll records should be kept for at least three years, with at the workplace of a central records office. And records for computing wages, such as timecards or schedules, must be kept at least two years.