Labor Dept. Investigation Nets Back Wages To 111 Cricket Wireless Employees

March 7, 2019

After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Fast Frontier LLC – based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and operating as Cricket Wireless – has paid $41,677 in back wages to 111 employees for violating the minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) at 54 locations in Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The list of 54 store locations included North Main Street in Atmore, East Cervantes Street and North 9th Avenue in Pensacola, Highway 90 in Milton and Highway 90 in Pace.

WHD investigators found the employer paid employees flat salaries without regard to the number of hours they had actually worked. This practice resulted in overtime violations when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, but were not paid overtime. Additional overtime violations resulted when the employer failed to include commissions when calculating overtime pay, instead basing overtime rates only on workers’ hourly base rates. Excluding these amounts resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law. The Department also cited FLSA recordkeeping violations when the employer failed to maintain accurate records of the number of hours employees worked.

Investigators also found that two former employees never received their final paychecks.

“The U.S. Department of Labor provides compliance assistance to help employers understand the law and avoid violations,” said James Schmidt, Wage and Hour Division District Director, in Tampa. “When violations do occur, our enforcement helps to ensure that workers are paid the wages they have earned, and that employers compete on a level playing field. We encourage all employers to make use of the many tools we provide to help them understand and comply with the law, and to call us for assistance.”

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News