DJR Holding Corp., doing business as Heartland Tire and Auto, Raceway Tire and Exhaust, and Muscatine Tire, has paid 25 mechanics a total of $216,960 following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which found back wages owed due to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provisions.

The investigation determined that DJR Holding paid mechanics a weekly salary, which was reduced when hours fell below 40 per workweek, but was not increased with overtime compensation when hours exceeded 40. Because the mechanics affected were not exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA, which call for the payment of time and-one-half employees’ regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, failure to pay the overtime premium violated the law.

The violations impacted employees of six DJR Holding Corp. retail tire sales and installation outlets in Iowa including eight mechanics at Heartland Tire and Auto Center in Ankeny; five mechanics at Heartland Tire and Auto Center in Waukee; three mechanics at Heartland Tire and Auto Center in Boone; one mechanic at Heartland Tire and Auto Center in Creston; four mechanics at Raceway Tire and Exhaust in Knoxville; and four mechanics at Muscatine Tire in Muscatine.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 in a seven-day week. In general, hours worked includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer’s premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal work activity to the end of the last principal activity of the workday. Additionally, the law requires that accurate records of employees’ wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.