Landscape Company Agrees to Pay Back Wages

A Thiensville, Wis., landscaping company agreed to pay a total of $59,994 in back wages owed to 76 employees who were not properly compensated for working more than 40 hours a week, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday.
 
Fadi Haddad, the owner of Northern Exposure Landscaping Inc., voluntarily agreed to make the payments after the department filed a lawsuit against him, said the department's spokesman, Juan Solano.

An investigation by the department's Wage and Hour Division disclosed that Haddad's employees were not paid for working overtime and that his company had failed to keep proper work records, Solano said.

The employees who will receive back pay were hourly workers, earning the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour or more, he said.

The wages recovered by the Labor Department were for a period spanning November 2001 to June 2003, Solano said.

Haddad was unavailable for comment on Tuesday. A woman who answered the phone at his office said he was out for the day and could not be reached.

Haddad's company, at 11431 N. Port Washington Road, performs landscape maintenance, construction and irrigation services and snow removal.

To settle the lawsuit, Haddad agreed to refrain from future violations of the overtime pay and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The agreement was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.