The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division recently conducted an investigation and found labor violations in a Star Ocean Foods distribution center and two Sun Foods grocery stores. According to the investigation, the employer was not properly paying workers the minimum wage rates they were owed for their time attendance.

Additionally, the company was deducting wages from employees' paychecks to cover shortages in cash registers. Employers can establish policies to recover missing money, but they are not allowed to subtract funds if it means employees' pay rates fall below minimum wage.

"Low-wage grocery workers are among the most vulnerable," said Theresa Walls, the Minneapolis district office director of the Wage and Hour Division. "We will continue investigating and educating employers in the grocery industry to protect the rights of those workers."

The employer has paid 131 employees $226,081 in back wages to recover the lost pay and has also agreed to comply with the FLSA in the future. Businesses might find it easier to ensure proper payroll practices when they use a timeclock in tandem with payroll processing services to accurately track employee work time.
 

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