Holbrook awning company to pay $252K in back wages and damages, U.S. Labor investigators say 

A Holbrook shutter and awning manufacturer and installer has been ordered by federal labor investigators to pay more than $252,000 in back wages and damages to employees, the U.S. Department of Labor said.

Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. and its owner Murray Braun must pay $252,370 in back wages and damages to 35 employees who, according to investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division, were “intentionally denied” overtime wages over a three-year period.

The agency said investigators found that the company and its owner paid the workers straight-time rates for all hours worked, including for hours exceeding 40 in a work week, over the three years. They were owed $126,185 in back wages, the department said.

An attorney for the company said only a handful of employees were significantly impacted by the back wage issue.

“Principally involved over that three-year period were about seven people who got any kind of substantial amount of money,” said Richard S. Kestenbaum, an attorney representing Rollup. “Some got as little as $47, $69, or $76 over a three-year period. It is not, unfortunately, anything like the Department of Labor’s public statement.”

As part of the Labor Department’s order, the company was also told to pay an additional $126,185 in liquidated damages, equal to the amount in back wages.

“Our investigation found that, for three years, Rollup Shutters & Awnings Inc. and owner, Murray Braun, willfully shortchanged 35 employees of their hard-earned overtime wages,” David An, district director of the Wage and Hour Division in Westbury, said in a statement.

“Federal law protects workers’ rights to be paid fully for all the hours they work,” An said. “The company and its owner have learned that the consequences for violating these rights are often costly, even more so when we find their violations were intentional.”

Wage and Hour investigators also said that Rollup did not maintain “accurate employee pay records” and that the employer paid workers their regular hourly wage in cash.

In addition to the back wages and damages, the company was also ordered to pay $28,245 in civil money penalties for “willfully violating federal law,” the federal agency said. In total, the company’s financial obligation over the settlement agreement totals $280,615.

Rollup is also required to put in place procedures to ensure complete and accurate records, including providing workers with printed statements of hours worked and to post federal wage laws in the workplace.