A Florida grocer shorted workers $901,000 when they weren’t paid for their overtime
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Florida, food and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Unpaid or underpaid labor can seem as common in Florida restaurants and grocery stores as mahi-mahi.
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Grocery employees at a pair of Florida supermarkets got underpaid by $901,625 by management that also committed child labor violations, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
Labor said 75 employees at Sarasota’s La Primavera Supermarket & Restaurant and Fort Pierce’s La Primavera Grocery Store will get that money, which averages $12,021.67 per worker.
Bradenton’s Juan Esquivel and Neida Esquivel own and run the La Primavera stores, according to state records and Neida Esquivel’s LinkedIn page. Juan Esquivel returned a Miami Herald phone message Tuesday but declined to comment.
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Wage and Hour Division investigators found that La Primavera slotted employees as exempt from overtime pay, even though those employees didn’t act as managers in directing full-time employees work; have managerial hiring and firing powers; or make a salary of at least $684 per week. This violates the overtime pay parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
“Employers who misapply exemptions and deny hard-working people all of their earned wages make it harder for workers to provide for themselves and their families,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Daniel Cronin said.
READ MORE: $6.5 million is waiting for 14,000 Florida employees who got shorted on pay, feds say
La Primavera also got nicked with a $1,582 civil money penalty for violating federal child labor law by allowing two 15-year-olds to work more than 18 hours during school weeks, including past 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1.
“Learning new skills in the workforce is an important part of growing up — but we must protect children and ensure their first jobs do not interfere with their education or well-being,” Cronin said.
The Wage and Hour Division can communicate with callers with questions or problems in more than 200 languages. To file a confidential complaint with Wage and Hour, reach out online, by calling the local office or by calling 866-487-9243.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 7:25 AM.
