CAROLINA GOLF COMPANY PAID BACK WAGES AFTER LABOR DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Carolina Trail Golf Partners Inc. has paid more than $758,000 in back wages to 347 employees following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation

RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Trail Golf Partners Inc. has paid 347 employees a total of $758,465 in back wages following an investigation of seven of its facilities by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division that found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage and overtime provisions. The investigation included Charlotte Golf Links, Highland Creek Golf Club and The Tradition Golf Club, all of Charlotte; Birkdale Golf Club and Skybrook Golf Club in Huntersville; The Divide Golf Club in Matthews; and The Links at Waterford in Rock Hill, S.C.

Investigators found the employer missed several payrolls, and employees were issued paychecks five to six weeks late. Employees had received no wages for the hours they worked in pay periods for which a payroll was missed, resulting in minimum wage violations under the FLSA. Additionally, due to the missed payrolls, employees who worked more than 40 hours in a work week were denied overtime compensation. The FLSA requires employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as well as overtime compensation at time and one-half their regular rates for hours worked beyond 40 in a week.

"Employers are legally obligated to pay for all hours worked, including overtime when employees work more than 40 hours in a week," said Richard Blaylock, director of the division's Raleigh District Office. "Employers can not use the withholding of employee's pay as a form of financing of operations. The Wage and Hour Division is using every enforcement tool available to ensure workplace protections and to prevent employers who choose not to comply with the law from gaining an unfair advantage in the market over those who do comply. We remain vigilant in securing for workers the wages that they rightfully have earned."

The employer has agreed to comply with the FLSA in the future, correct all the violations identified by this investigation and paid the back wages in full.

The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. In general, hours worked includes all time an employee must be on duty, or on the employer's premises or at any other prescribed place of work, from the beginning of the first principal work activity to the end of the last principal activity of the workday. Additionally, the law requires that accurate records of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment be maintained.

COURT BARS COMPANY FROM EVADING EMPLOYMENT TAXES THROUGH TOOL RENTAL SCHEMES

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Friday, January 18, 2013
Federal Court Permanently Bars Virginia Company’s Promotion of Tool Reimbursement and Tool Rental Schemes

Government Alleges Promoters Re-Characterized Employee Wages To Evade Employment Taxes, Costing U.S. Treasury More Than $17 Million

The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has permanently barred Cash Management Systems, a Virginia corporation, from promoting two tax schemes that allegedly involve disguising wages as tool-reimbursement or tool-rental payments. Also subject to the civil injunction order were Cash Mangement’s marketing arm, Xell Enterprises, incorporated in Kansas; its principals, Bruce Lemay and Richard Herson Mills; and Allen Davison, of Overland Park, Kan. According to the government complaint, Davison provided legal opinion letters regarding the schemes and served on Cash Management’s board of directors.

Judge Eric F. Melgren of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas entered the permanent injunction, which the defendants consented to without admitting to the allegations against them. Davison was enjoined from promoting other tax schemes in 2010.

The complaint alleges that defendants promoted and implemented two fraudulent tax schemes to employers and employees in the automotive, construction and trucking industries across the United States. In the first, employers allegedly re-characterize a portion of employees’ wages as purported reimbursements for tools in order to evade federal income and employment taxes. The second plan allegedly involves re-characterizing a portion of wages as purported tool rental payments. The suit alleges that both plans are specifically designed and promoted as ways to reduce reported income and employment taxes.

The government asserts in its complaint that from 2004 through 2010 the schemes cost the U.S. Treasury an estimated $17 million.