Florida company that trains disabled adults explains why it owes $14,000 in back pay

A Jacksonville company that trains and employs intellectually and developmentally disabled adults admits it owes $14,487.87 in back pay after requirements allowing sub-minimum wage pay weren’t met.

Pine Castle owes that money to 48 employees, or $301.83 per worker. The U.S. Department of Labor announced the violation in September.

Pine Castle CEO Lori Ann Whittington said in an email to the Miami Herald the company discovered the problem as it prepared for a Department of Labor audit.

“Sub-minimum wage work is allowed under the agency’s (Fair Labor Standards Act) 14(c) certificate from the Department of Labor to provide adults with differences the opportunity to work, at their own pace, and earn a paycheck,” Whittington said. “They are not paid at the rate of a typical employee because their rate of work does not match that of an employee without an intellectual or developmental difference.”

But, Section 511 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act says companies with an FLSA 14(c) certificate must provide services such as an annual course on community employment. If a worker doesn’t take that course, Whittington said, they have to be paid at least the federal minimum wage for each day that course isn’t taken.

“In some cases, training was rescheduled or missed for a period of time, causing the agency to be out of compliance for those days,” Whittington said. “Pine Castle has put a better procedure in place to track these trainings in the future, which should prevent these employees from missing the required course in community employment.”

Employers that find they’ve committed overtime or minimum wage violations can self-report through the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program.

For online information on how to file a complaint, go to the Wage and Hour complaint section of the Department of Labor website. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607.

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