The HRTech Wire

Unpaid Pre-Shift Work Costs New Jersey Employer $725K

A New Jersey drywall installer, P & B Partitions Inc., must pay $725,000 under a consent judgment in federal court after the U.S. Department of Labor found it failed to pay 48 workers overtime for pre-shift time spent waiting for transportation to job sites. The total includes $350,000 in back wages, an equal amount in liquidated damages and $25,000 in civil penalties. The DOL says such waiting time is compensable work under the Fair Labor Standards Act.