LIHU‘E — A Kaua‘i cleaning service has been hit with its second labor violation in less than a decade after federal investigators determined they failed to pay nearly $50,000 in workers’ overtime wages and travel expenses over a three-year period.
The U.S. Department of Labor ordered that All Kaua‘i Cleaning of Lihu‘e pay nearly $97,000 to 10 workers over the violations, which took place from July 2019 to July 2022. These actions, along with their failure to keep complete and accurate payroll records, are all violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Federal law protects the rights of every worker to get paid all of their legally earned wages which, in this case, means the required overtime rate and payment for time traveling between work locations,” explained DOL Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu.
“Our investigators determined that All Kaua‘i Cleaning repeatedly violated its workers’ rights, and the U.S. Department of Labor has held the company accountable.”
Of the $97,000 order, $48,468 was for unpaid wages and overtime, while $48,486 was for liquidated damages. The violations included not compensating employees for their travel time between job sites.
In addition to recovering wages and damages, the DOL Wage and Hour Division assessed All Kaua‘i Cleaning $1,540 in civil penalties for repeated violations. In a 2014 investigation, the division discovered they failed to pay overtime rates and recovered $33,612 in unpaid wages and damages.
Established in 1988, All Kaua‘i Cleaning Inc. provides interior and exterior cleaning services for residential and commercial customers on the island. All Kaua‘i Cleaning Inc.’s owner Robert Bartolo could not be reached for comment by press time Thursday.
Not paying overtime is an example of wage theft, a broad category that also includes paying less than minimum wage, not allowing breaks, requiring off-the-clock work, or taking workers’ tips.
A study from the Economic Policy Institute estimates that U.S. workers may lose as much as $50 billion annually from wage theft, dwarfing the amount lost in criminal offenses like robbery and burglary.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that only $3 billion was lost to burglary and $482 million to robbery in 2019.
Workers who think they may be a victim of wage theft can file an online complaint at the Department of Labor website, www.dol.gov.
