More than 800 hotel workers in Central Florida will share about $133,000 in back wages after the U.S. Labor Department found that a Kissimmee-based staffing agency violated the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

  • APDC violated the Fair Labor Standards Act
  • 811 hotel workers to share $133,778 in back wages
  • APDC also assessed $57,145 in civil penalties

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the staffing agency, APDC Services Inc., paid hourly employees straight time for their overtime hours. The company also failed to maintain time and payroll records.

The company provides workers to the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista, B Resort & Spa, Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa, Westgate Palace Resort, Legacy Vacation Club, Reunion Resort and the Westgate Blue Tree Resort.

APDC will pay a total of $133,778 in back wages to 811 workers and comply with the FLSA in the future, the department said in a news release. The agency also signed an agreement with the department to amend all of their contracts with hotels to include language to cover their obligations under the FLSA. Contracts will now expressly state that the staffing agency will bill client hotels, and employees will be paid time and one-half for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. The division also assessed $57,145 in civil money penalties for APDC’s repeated violations after having found similar violations in prior investigations.

"Staffing agencies, like all employers, must pay employees working on their behalf the hard-earned wages to which they are entitled by law," said Daniel White, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in Jacksonville, in a statement. "Workers in the hospitality industry are among the most vulnerable that we see. The back wages and penalties collected in this case demonstrate the Wage and Hour Division's commitment to protecting these workers, and to employers from gaining an unfair competition advantage by skirting the law."

Earlier this year, another Kissimmee-based staffing agency was ordered to pay 15 motel employees $25,000 in back wages.

For more information about the FLSA and wage laws or to file a complaint, call the Wage and Hour Division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), the Jacksonville District Office at 904-359-9292 or go to http://www.dol.gov/whd /.