REPORT: New York Labor Department investigation finds Lewis County dairy farm did not pay overtime to pair of workers
LEWIS COUNTY- A pair of North Country farm workers are receiving nearly $150,000 in owed back wages after New York’s Department of Labor discovered a Lewis County Farm allegedly altered their books to avoid paying overtime hours.
The pair of employees in question reportedly filed complaints, stating they were not paid for their overtime work from January 1, 2020 through December 21, 2021.
During the investigation, Hancor Holsteins reportedly admitted to the Labor Department that they “altered payroll records” to reduce actual hours worked, thus dodging overtime pay.
“Let cases like this stand as a warning to unscrupulous employers: New York State will not tolerate rightfully earned wages being stolen from workers,” said New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.
“We will aggressively pursue and hold bad actors accountable in our ongoing efforts to protect workers and assure they receive all the wages they have earned.”
As of January, 2020, New York’s Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act requires all farm workers statewide be paid time and half for any work over 60-hours in a calendar week.
That threshold has since been recommended to be lowered to 40-hours, but will be phased-in over a decade starting in 2024.
Over the past decade, NYSDOL had recovered and dispersed more than $360 million in stolen wages, identified over a million misclassified workers, and assessed over $400 million owed in unemployment insurance contributions through both criminal cases and civil enforcement.
Image via the New York State Department of Labor.
