Walt Disney World Employees Owed $433,000 in Back Wages
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts owed to 69 employees more than $433,000 in back wages that were recovered by the Department of Labor (DOL) on Aug. 26.
According to the DOL, their investigation found that inventory control clerks at the Orlando, Fla., theme park’s Food and Beverage Department were not paid for their work before and after normal shifts. They were also not paid for work done from home, and for work done during their meal times. The company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the DOL.
Walt Disney has rules regarding off-clock work, but the DOL’s Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that “managers within the company were not adhering to those important policies,” said Wage and Hour Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink, in a press release.
“It is not enough to have policies. Management must also ensure that all supervisors are implementing them,” Leppink said.
The FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor) requires that workers must be paid one and a half times their rate of pay for any work above 40 hours per week. Hours worked mean any time an employee must be on duty, at any location, “from the beginning of the first principal activity of the workday to the end of the last principal work activity of the workday,” according to the DOL. Certain supervisory or professional workers are exempt from the FLSA.
No response was received from phone calls to Walt Disney, as of press deadline.