How uncool: 11 Florida A/C companies caught shorting workers $113,000 in pay, feds say
Employees at 11 Florida HVAC contractors weren’t paid all the money their work had earned after the companies violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
This resulted in 169 workers getting $113,539 in back pay and liquidated damages, an average of $671.82 per worker.
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Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found a diverse set of ways the air-conditioning contractors didn’t pay their workers properly.
▪ Not including bonuses and commissions in pay rates when figuring out overtime, thus paying less than the proper overtime rate.
▪ Not combining work done on different jobs for the same employer. One company, Labor said, paid workers by the hour at a new construction job and piece-rate for direct service to customers, but didn’t add the hours for determining whether or not they surpassed 40 for the week.
▪ Using compensatory time or “comp time,” giving the workers time off equivalent to the number of overtime hours worked, instead of paying them time-and-a-half. “Comp time” violates the FLSA.
The companies involved in this investigation
▪ 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 a company listed as ATM 6 that doesn’t appear in Florida state records. Most of the companies that do appear in state records are run by About Time Management, which is run by David Cox. Labor says Ryan Cox and Richard Allard also have a piece of these companies, which owed 73 workers $35,337.
▪ Barineau Heating & Air Conditioning, a Tallahassee company owned by Patrick Barineau that owed 21 workers $31,509.
▪ Buehler Air Conditioning, a Jacksonville Beach company owned by Jason M. Buehler that owed 18 workers $27,212.
▪ Sun Kool Heating and Air, an Wildwood company owned by Ocala’s Frank Nicholson III that owed 44 workers $12,502.
▪ Gator Heating and Air Conditioning, a Gainesville company owned by Maria Radziminski that owed 10 workers $6,546.
▪ A+ Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, a Gainesville company owned by James Griffin 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,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús. “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.”
The Wage and Hour complaint section of Labor’s website contains information on how to file a complaint if you believe your employer has violated FLSA. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607. The national helpline is 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).
No matter the immigration or citizenship status of workers, they can speak with the department, which says it can handle calls in more than 200 languages.
