The U.S. Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Coway USA Inc., a company based in Los Angeles that sells and services household appliances. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, claims that Coway did not pay overtime wages to over 180 employees. This would be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division allegedly revealed that Coway allegedly was aware they were underpaying their workers. The company falsified records to hide the actual hours employees worked. This included not paying for time spent on customer calls, loading and unloading delivery vehicles, picking up inventory, and attending mandatory training sessions. Coway also deducted 30 minutes for lunch breaks, even though employees often worked through lunch to stay on schedule.
In addition to the falsified records, the investigation found that Coway used incorrect methods to calculate overtime, further reducing the wages owed to employees. The department believes Coway owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid overtime wages.