WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Raceway Petroleum Inc. for failing to pay overtime to more than 400 employees at 20 gasoline stations in New Jersey, including five in Monmouth and Ocean counties, officials said Wednesday, according to The Asbury Park Press.
The government said the Piscataway, N.J.-based company owes employees more than $2 million in back wages for work they have done since June 1, 2002.
They're basically low-wage workers, making $8 an hour, Kate Dugan, a spokesperson for the Labor Department [image-nocss] in Philadelphia, told the newspaper. The department is committed to protecting this vulnerable class of workers and making sure they aren't taken advantage of.
The lawsuit claims the company continues to violate the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees time-and-a-half whenever the employees worked more than 40 hours a week. The lawsuit says the company also violated the law by failing to keep accurate records of hours that employees worked.
Workers from Raceway stations in Freehold, Red Bank, Toms River, Middletown and Englishtown, N.J., are part of the lawsuit, the report said.
Dugan said the two sides couldn't reach an agreement out of court. The Labor Department then filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and is seeking back wages, damages and assurance that it will comply with the law in the future, said the report.
Raceway is not affiliated with RaceTrac Petroleum Inc., Atlanta.
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