Windmar Home/Windmar PV Energy to pay $238K in owed overtime wages
The U.S. Labor Department said the company “failed to include bonuses in overtime calculation.”
A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $238,746 in overtime wages owed to 1,024 solar panel and system installers employed by Windmar Home/Windmar P.V. Energy Inc. The company failed to include various bonuses in their salaries and calculated overtime wages incorrectly.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the renewable energy company’s actions “caused a significant shortfall in the employees’ wages and violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”
In a settlement agreement with the division, the employer agreed to pay the back overtime wages and to future FLSA compliance, the federal agency noted.
Based in San Juan, Windmar P.V. Energy Inc./Windmar Home is a renewable energy company and a subsidiary of Windmar Group, based in Orlando, Florida.
“Our investigators identified that more than 1,000 solar industry workers were being shortchanged because their employer failed to include performance bonuses when calculating overtime wages,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director José Vázquez in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
“Employers in Puerto Rico’s fast-growing solar industry should familiarize themselves with regulations governing their pay practices to avoid the often significant financial consequences that come when these laws are violated,” he said.
The division is currently distributing monies owed to workers covered by this investigation from Windmar and is trying to locate current or former employees who believe they are owed back wages from this investigation, it stated.
Workers who believe they are owed wages are encouraged to use the division’s Workers Owed Wages en línea search tool to claim their back wages or to contact the division’s Caribbean District Office in Guaynabo at 787-775-1947 with questions, the agency noted.
