Not cool: 11 Florida air conditioning companies shorted workers $113K, feds say

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor revealed that employees at 11 Florida heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors were shortchanged more than $113,000 in back pay.

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According to a news release, the companies violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, and 169 workers received $113,569 in back pay and liquidated damages. That works out to an average of $671.82 per worker, the Department of Labor said.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division found several ways that air-conditioning contractors avoided paying their workers properly, according to the Miami Herald.

The tactics included not figuring in bonuses and commissions in pay rates when figuring out overtime rates. Not combining work done on different jobs for the same employers, and using compensatory time equal to the overtime worked -- instead of paying a rate equal to 1.5 times a regular wage -- were other ways contractors avoided paying employees properly, according to the newspaper.

In all of the investigations, the Wage and Hour Division cited employers for failing to keep accurate payroll records, according to the news release.

According to the Department of Labor, the companies involved were One Hour BROS Air Conditioning & Heating Jacksonville in Atlantic Beach; One Hour BROS Air Conditioning & Heating in Bradenton and Melbourne; One Hour BROS in South Daytona; Ben Franklin Plumbing of Bradenton and Sarasota; and several companies listed as ATM 6. Most of these companies are run by About Time Management and owed 73 workers $35,337, according to the Herald.

According to the Herald, other companies listed by the Department of Labor included Barineau Heating & Air Conditioning, a Tallahassee company that owed 21 workers $31,509; Buehler Air Conditioning, a Jacksonville Beach company that owed 18 workers $27,212; Sun Kool Heating and Air, a Wildwood company that owed 44 workers $12,502; Gator Heating and Air Conditioning, a Gainesville company that owed 10 workers $6,546; and A+ Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, a Gainesville company that owed three workers $433.

“Employers who fail to pay their workers all of their rightfully earned wages make it more difficult for employees and their families to make ends meet,” Wildalí De Jesús, the Wage and Hour Division district director, said in a statement. “The violations found in these investigations of HVAC companies in Central Florida could have been avoided. We encourage employers and employees with questions about compliance with federal wage laws to contact us for more information.”

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