It's one thing to settle an unpaid overtime claim; it's another entirely to shake down your employees to repay the settlement funds to you.
Following a DOL investigation, Sparklean agreed to pay unpaid overtime back wages to its employees. Shortly thereafter, it began demanding kickbacks from its employees to compensate for the overtime settlement, submitted false receipts to showing that it paid the recovered wages, and threatened workers for exercising their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
As a result, the DOL went to court and obtained a $281,870 judgment, which included $87,735 in back wages, $94,135 in liquidated damages, and an additional $100,000 in punitive damages.