BLUEFIELD — The U.S. secretary of labor is suing a Bluefield contractor and a real estate company, alleging violation of workers compensation acts in failing to pay proper overtime.
Thomas Perez, U.S. secretary of labor, filed a lawsuit Nov. 28 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against Lambert Construction Company of Bluefield Inc., ELL Real Estate LLC and Ace Lambert, alleging violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the complaint, during the investigative period from the week ending Aug. 11, 2013, through the present, the defendants did not properly compensate their employees for all hours worked of more than 40 per week.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants failed and refused to pay their employees at time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked more than 40 per week as required by FLSA and illegally practiced splitting employees paychecks to avoid paying an overtime premium.
Perez seeks trial by jury, judgment enjoining and restraining the defendants from violating FLSA, compensation for all unpaid overtime wages, liquidated damages, costs for this action and all other appropriate relief. He is represented by attorneys Pollyanna E.F. Hampton and Ali Beydoun of U.S. Department of Labor Office of the Regional Solicitor in Arlington, Virginia, and by Gary L. Call of the U.S. Department of Justice Southern District of West Virginia in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia Case number 1:16-cv-11416
