An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has determined that truckstop owner and manager Mohammed Tahir failed from 2015 to 2018 to pay 65 employees at two of his businesses minimum wage and overtime as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Investigators have found that Tahir owed $42,265 in back wages to 47 Promised Land Truck Stop workers in Tafton, Pennsylvania, and $17,425 in back wages to 18 Whistle Stop employees in Greentown, Pennsylvania, and equal amounts in liquidated damages. The division also assessed $45,722 in civil money penalties against the employer for his “willful violations.”
The employer failed to pay workers at the Tafton location for time spent counting cash drawers and completing reports, and took deductions from workers’ pay for cash drawer shortages. By doing so, the employer paid workers less than the federal minimum wage. Tahir also did not pay any overtime when employees worked over 40 in a work week and did not maintain payroll and time records as required. Similarly, he paid employees at the Greentown store straight time with no overtime pay when they worked more than 40 in a workweek. Investigators also found the employer paid several workers identified as assistant managers a fixed salary, with no overtime pay, in violation of the law. The employer also deducted pay from the assistant managers’ salaries when they worked fewer than 50 hours, and again failed to retain required records.
After the employer refused to resolve the violations, the department’s Office of the Solicitor filed a complaint in August 2018 against both companies and Tahir. In its July 2020 summary judgment, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania affirmed that the employer violated the law and owed the amounts the department sought.
In February 2021, the employer appealed the civil money penalties to the Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ), which reduced the penalty to $13,800 in its October 2022 decision and order. In March 2023, the department filed a Petition for Review of the Decision and Order with the Administrative Review Board (ARB) to appeal the OALJ decision.
On July 18, 2024, the ARB issued a decision and order that reversed the OALJ decision and required the employer to pay the $45,722 civil money penalties first assessed.
“The Wage and Hour Division assessed the civil money penalties against the employer due to their willful disregard of the law, and the Administrative Review Board affirmed our original assessment,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jo-Ann Gregory in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
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