Ferry Carpets Ordered to Pay Back Wages & Damages to Installers

Newark, NY, May 27, 2016— Federal authorities say that Ferry Carpets of Newark, New Jersey overworked its employees without compensating them and was ordered to pay 15 employees a combined $280,000, according to NJ.com.

A federal consent judgment ordered the owners of Ferry Carpets to pay $140,000 in back pay and another $140,000 in damages to the employees, who, according to officials, worked up to 72 hours a week but were only compensated for 40 hours.

The order was the result of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, which alleged that Ferry violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

According to the complaint, between February 2013 and February 2015, Ferry paid floor installers a fixed salary, regardless of how many hours they worked and, to make it appear that the company was in line with labor regulations, submitted falsified records indicating that employees did not work any overtime hours.