Alliance Property Services Inc., Alliance Property Services PA Inc., Secure Assets First Inc., Imperial Property Services Inc. and Michael McCaffrey, individually and as owner were sued on 13 April 2015 by the US Department of Labor (DoL) for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These are centrally owned and commonly managed businesses, based in Syracuse, New York, engaged in property preservation and inspection services for foreclosed properties in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
As predicted by Foreclosurepedia last week, the litigation has begun. In fact, Foreclosurepedia has been THE ONLY MEDIA OUTLET with an inside track on precisely what the US Government’s game plan is. We have never been wrong on a prediction yet and make no mistake whatsoever, we have a scorecard with respect to the firms whom are going to the dance very, very soon. We place that scorecard in the ninety percentile with respect to veracity.
The Labor Department has filed suit asking the court to require the defendants to pay employees the back wages due them plus an equal amount in liquidated damages; reinstatement of the fired worker, whom was fired for cooporating with DoL, plus payment to him of lost wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages; and an injunction permanently restraining the defendants from future FLSA violations. Attorney James Wong of the Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York is litigating the case for the department.
An investigation by the Albany District Office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the defendants violated the overtime, minimum wage, recordkeeping and anti-retaliation requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The violations affected employees who traveled to foreclosed properties to mow lawns, winterize homes, change locks and do light construction work.
Specifically, the defendants evaded paying overtime by paying employees with checks from two sister companies or paying employees in cash off the books when they worked more than 80 hours in a two week period; denied some employees the minimum wage by not paying them …… at all for their last one or two weeks of work; did not keep records of hours worked and cash wages paid; and fired an employee for cooperating with the Wage and Hour Division’s investigation. The FLSA requires employers to pay federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour; to pay time and one half an employee’s rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek; and prohibits retaliation against employees who file a complaint or participate in an investigation.
The reality is that the US Government has finally begun to come to its senses. While the National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) and its Carnival Ship of Fools have yet to realize they are simply tourists passing through, many of us have already begun preparing for the inevitable. The inevitable has two possibilities both of which are beneficial to Labor and the US Taxpayer. More on that later. What we are going to take a look at first, is the quantification of precisely that which the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has laid out before Labor like a trail of bread crumbs on the path for Hansel and Gretel.
These employees, many of whom traveled long distances and worked more than 60 hours each week, kept their end of the bargain by doing their jobs. Their employer, by underpaying them and cheating them of their hard-earned wages, did not, said Jay Rosenblum, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Albany. This case shows that the Wage and Hour Division will use every resource available to protect workers and to ensure a level playing field so that law-abiding employers are not put at a competitive disadvantage.
The Labor Department has filed suit asking the court to require the defendants to pay employees the back wages due them plus an equal amount in liquidated damages; reinstatement of the fired worker plus payment to him of lost wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages; and an injunction permanently restraining the defendants from future FLSA violations. Attorney James Wong of the Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York is litigating the case for the department.
The Labor Department has filed suit asking the court to require the defendants to pay employees the back wages due them plus an equal amount in liquidated damages; reinstatement of the fired worker plus payment to him of lost wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages; and an injunction permanently restraining the defendants from future FLSA violations. Attorney James Wong of the Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York is litigating the case for the department.
