Five hotels and their managers and owners have been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in Ohio for violating minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The lawsuits seek back wages and damages for 89 workers at the Baymont Inn & Suites, the Country Inns & Suites and two Four Points by Sheraton in Columbus, and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Reynoldsburg.

DOL investigators found violations of the FLSA’s minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions for 61 workers employed by Darpan Management and Fantastic Cleaning. The workers were housekeepers, attendants and laundry staff. The housekeepers, according to the suit, were employees, but Darpan/Fantastic had misclassified them as independent contractors, paying them by the room. That meant they often didn’t earn the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The employees also weren’t paid the legally required overtime at time and one-half the regular rate when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. They’re owed, the DOL says, $42,288 in back wages.

Another investigation found that 28 people employed by Darpan as hotel staff are owed $11,181 in unpaid minimum wage and overtime. Some weren’t paid for the time they spent training, and workers got overtime pay only after they had worked more than 80 hours in a two-week period, instead of the required 40-per-week measure. Darpan also failed to maintain accurate and complete payroll records.

Read the whole story on the Norwalk Reflector.