Tag: damages | SpinSafe

US Department of Labor obtains judgment to recover $47K in back wages, damages after Louisiana security company denied overtime to 58 workers

August 15, 2023/in Mobile Security

Sentinel Security Group Inc. assessed $7K in civil money penalties

SHREVEPORT, LA – While security workers sometimes face daunting challenges on the job in return for a median national wage of just $15.13 per hour, 58 industry workers are closer to getting wages owed to them by their Shreveport employer thanks to an action brought by the U.S. Department of Labor.

In May 2023, the department obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport Division, ordering Sentinel Security Group Inc. to pay $23,841 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected employees.

The court’s action follows a 2021 lawsuit the department filed after the company refused to comply with the findings of the department’s Wage and Hour Division. Investigators determined Sentinel Security Group denied overtime to the affected employees by not combining hours employees worked at more than one location, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provision.

“Sentinel Security Group deprived 58 workers of their overtime pay by ignoring their responsibilities under federal law,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Betty Campbell in Dallas. “The recovery of back wages and damages will help these employees support themselves and their families.”

The department also filed a separate action in administrative court and obtained consent findings that require the company to pay $7,317 in civil money penalties for Sentinel’s repeat violations.

“Compliance with the law is not optional. Employers cannot repeatedly disregard the law, and the U.S. Department of Labor will take legal action when employers like Sentinel Security Group refuse to pay employees their rightful wages,” explained Regional Solicitor of Labor John Rainwater in Dallas. “This case’s resolution shows employers that there can be costly consequences for defying the laws.”

In fiscal year 2022, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $3.9 million for more than 4,600 people employed in guard services after over 600 investigations nationwide.

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Oakland Police Union Seeking Damages Suffered in Ransomware Attack on City – NBC Bay Area

April 4, 2023/in Internet Security

Oakland police officers have filed a claim against the city for damages suffered due to the ransomware attack on the city in February, officials with the police union said Monday.

The claim was filed Thursday by attorneys for the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, which represents more than 700 officers.

The union is asking for monetary compensation as well as credit monitoring services, bank monitoring services, credit restoration services and identity theft insurance.

“Having to file this legal claim is disappointing,” said police union President Barry Donelan in a statement. “Oakland employees trusted the city with their personal and confidential data, and the city failed them by releasing it through a combination of incompetence and negligence.” City officials, including the mayor’s office, said last week that they would meet with the police union following a threat of litigation.

As of Monday, there hasn’t been a meeting, but union officials said they are optimistic a meeting will occur.

A spokesperson for Mayor Sheng Thao on Monday referred a request for comment to City Attorney Barbara Parker’s office.

Parker’s office did not have a comment Monday, saying the office just received the claim and has not had time to review it. The city was closed Friday for Cesar Chavez Day.

The ransomware attackers released private, personal information of police officers, Donelan said. Reportedly, other employees’ private information was released, too.

The attack started Feb. 8. The attackers crippled the city’s information technology systems and demanded ransom to free the systems.

Attorneys for the police union said the city was repeatedly warned in the past and recently of “significant deficiencies in the security of its information technology systems,” according to the claim filed Thursday.

The claim was filed by the police union’s attorneys Rains, Lucia, Stern, St. Phalle and Silver and is a precondition for filing a lawsuit against the city, attorney Rockne Lucia Jr. said.

“We are currently evaluating all of our options and will make a determination on how to protect the interests of the members of the OPOA in the next few weeks,” Lucia said by email….

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