BabyVision Inc., a Poughkeepsie-based maker and distributor of baby apparel and accessories, denied 49 workers overtime pay and then attempted to thwart federal investigators by hiding workers and threatening them if they spoke to U.S. Department of Labor agents, according to an announcement from the Labor Department.
The company designs baby apparel and accessories and distributes them on the Internet and to retail stores under brands such as Luvable Friends, Hudson Baby, Yoga Sprout and Nurtria. It operates a warehouse and offices on Firemens Way in Poughkeepsie. Underpaid employees included those that loaded and stocked items, prepared customer orders and maintained the company”™s website, the Labor Department said.
A yearlong federal probe found the company”™s owners, Shreenivas Shah and Malti Shah, paid employees ”“ including some not on the company payroll ”“ straight time in cash and denied them the required overtime pay rate of 1 1/2 times their regular hourly wage when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.
According to the Labor Department, early in the investigation the Shahs told employees they were to hide from investigators or provide false information. Workers were threatened with termination if they cooperated with investigators, the Labor Department said. The department said it responded by obtaining a temporary restraining order to protect the workers and their rights and allow the investigation to continue.
The Shah”™s actions, which also included improperly classifying some employees as exempt from overtime and failing to maintain proper payroll records, violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the Labor Department.
The Shahs were ordered in a consent judgment to pay $121,349 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages, take corrective action to prevent future violations and pay $13,744 in civil penalties.
“This case shows our commitment to take all necessary legal steps, including using restraining orders, to protect workers and their rights,” said Jeffrey S. Rogoff, the Labor Department”™s regional solicitor of labor in New York, in a statement. “The judgment here does more than secure back wages. It commits BabyVision and the Shahs to a comprehensive compliance plan that includes corrective action and worker education to keep these violations from happening again.”
The Labor Department”™s Wage and Hour Division”™s White Plains office conducted the investigation, while the case was litigated by attorneys Elena Goldstein and David Jaklevic of the department”™s Regional Office of the Solicitor in New York City.
