A federal court has ordered a Massachusetts employer accused of threatening an employee to pay $25,000 in punitive damages plus $164,246 in wages and damages to eight other workers who were underpaid, the Department of Labor announced March 9.
The judgement came after a DOL investigation and litigation determined Ronan A. De Souza, owner of PS Tree Service Inc. of Holbrook, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to a DOL news release. Violations include infractions against overtime pay, record-keeping requirements, retaliation against employees and child-labor rules.
“Employees have a right to be paid their wages, to seek those wages and cooperate with investigators without fear of employer retaliation or threat of physical harm or harassment," Carlos Matos, Boston Wage and Hour Division director, said in the announcement. "The Wage and Hour Division uses a variety of tools to ensure workers are informed of their rights and employers are aware of their responsibilities under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and will not tolerate interference with its investigations or intimidation of workers."
Investigators found De Souza and PS Tree Service continued to pay straight-time wages to employees when they worked more than 40 hours in a pay week, failed to keep accurate records and let a 17-year-old employee operate a chain saw and a wood chipper, DOL reported. De Souza also reportedly threatened an employee who cooperated with investigators, the report states.
In addition to the financial penalties, a consent judgment and order was set in place that permanently keeps De Souza and his business from threatening or retaliating against any employee or former employee or their family for cooperating in a Wage and Hour Division investigation, including with termination, physical harm or verbal abuse and forbidding workers to cooperate with Wage and Hour Division investigations, according to the report.
“This case should remind employers and workers that the U.S. Department of Labor will take legal action on behalf of workers," Maia Fisher, regional solicitor of labor in Boston, said, "when their employers threaten or intimidate them, shortchange them of their wages, expose minor workers to hazardous jobs and equipment or otherwise disregard the Fair Labor Standards Act’s requirements.”
