After a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation, Central Florida Bakery Inc. – based in Sanford, Florida – has paid $28,055 in back wages and liquidated damages to 18 employees for violating minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). WHD also assessed the company a civil money penalty of $5,455.

WHD investigators determined that Central Florida Bakery Inc. paid one employee a weekly salary that failed to cover all of the hours that employee worked at $7.25 per hour, a minimum wage violation. The employer also paid overtime-eligible employees flat salaries without regard to the number of hours that they worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when these employees worked more than 40 hours per week yet the employer failed to pay overtime in addition to their salaries. Additional overtime violations resulted when Central Florida Bakery Inc. failed to include earned bonuses in workers' rates when computing their overtime, resulting in rates lower than the law requires. WHD also found recordkeeping violations when the employer failed to maintain accurate records of the hours employees worked. A previous WHD investigation concluded in 2015 also disclosed overtime violations.

"Employers have the responsibility to pay employees all the wages they have legally earned," said Wage and Hour Division District Director Daniel White, in Jacksonville, Florida. "We encourage employers to contact us with any questions they may have, and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to help them understand their obligations and to comply with the law."