PPM Outdoor in Kissimmee, Fla., has paid $55,345 to 40 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“Simply paying workers a salary does not exclude them from overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week,” said Daniel White, WHD district director in Jacksonville, Fla.

WHD investigators determined that PPM Outdoor—doing business as Prime Lawn Care Service—violated the FLSA’s overtime requirements when it paid hourly workers for their overtime hours at straight-time rates in separate checks.

The employer also inaccurately considered the foremen to be exempt from overtime requirements, paying them flat salaries without regard to the number of hours they worked. By doing so, the employer violated FLSA overtime regulations when employees worked more than 40 hours in a week and received no additional payment and, in one case, committed a minimum wage violation when an employee worked so many hours that the salary failed to cover the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

“We encourage all employers to use the tools the Department of Labor offers to learn about their responsibilities and to avoid violations. Our work continues to level the playing field for law-abiding employers,” White said.

Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program.