Employees, Some Paid As Low as $2.43 an Hour, Obtain $1.5M in Again Pay, Damages

Three San Diego-area firms that authorities say underpaid their workers have agreed to pay greater than $1.5 million in again wages and damages.

Two of the instances contain firms that do enterprise in each the U.S. and Mexico, in accordance with a federal Division of Labor assertion, whereas one deliberate a transfer to Tijuana.

Within the largest case, Freig Carrillo Forwarding Inc., was discovered to have paid workers in Mexican pesos at charges nicely under the federal minimal wage, authorities stated.

A consent judgment entered earlier this month in San Diego federal court docket orders Freig Carrillo and its proprietor, Javier Martin Freig Carrillo, to pay $1 million in again wages and damages to 35 employees.

The employer additionally should pay $26,215 in civil penalties for violations of the Truthful Labor Requirements Act.

The Division of Labor stated that between 2019 and 2021, Mexican employees on the agency’s San Diego warehouses had been denied minimal wage and time beyond regulation wages, with some paid as little as $3.24 per hour. They had been usually paid flat charges of $180-$200 per week for work weeks that averaged almost 45 hours.

As well as, investigators discovered {that a} Carlsbad producer, Providien Injection Molding Inc., paid a flat weekly wage in Mexican pesos to technicians who traveled from the corporate’s Tijuana location to work at its North County facility.

The corporate should pay $465,993 in again wages and damages for 44 workers, a few of whom had been paid at charges as little as $3.29 an hour.

The restitution contains $217,402 in time beyond regulation again wages for all the affected employees, and a further $15,594 in minimal wages owed to 13 employees, plus $232,996 in liquidated damages.

The division’s Wage and Hours Division assessed Providien with a $25,935 civil penalty.  

ACV Logistics Inc. additionally agreed to a settlement with the Division of Labor to pay $70,104 in again wages and damages to fifteen employees, and was assessed a $12,105 penalty.

The division stated {that a} evaluate of payroll information from 2020 to 2022 confirmed a few of its employees being paid as little as $2.43 an hour.

The Division of Labor stated greater than $2 million has been collected from San Diego employers since 2021 for comparable labor practices.

– Workers and wire experiences