A federal judge has ordered R.M. International Inc. to pay $376,380 in back wages and liquidated damages to 177 employees. The ruling follows a trial resulting from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Judge Anna J. Brown, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division, issued the final order. During the trial, the Labor Department alleged that the company’s drivers failed to meet an exemption to the FLSA under the Motor Carrier Act for providing overtime compensation to some employees who operate motor vehicles on public highways in interstate commerce. The court found that the employees in question did not qualify for the exemption and therefore should have been paid overtime.
The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, as well as one and one-half times their regular rates for hours worked over 40 per week. Additionally, the law requires that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.
Only drivers, their helpers, loaders who are responsible for proper loading and mechanics working directly on motor vehicles that are to be used in transportation of passengers or property in interstate commerce can be exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA under the specific exemption claimed by this employer. The overtime exemption does not apply to employees of non-carriers such as commercial garages, companies engaged in the business of maintaining and repairing motor vehicles owned and operated by carriers, or companies engaged in the leasing and renting of motor vehicles to carriers.