SPOKANE — The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday it had recovered more than $350,000 in back pay and damages for 602 employees of Spokane-based Rosauers Supermarkets.
Federal labor investigators said the company willfully violated labor laws at 23 of its locations. The grocer also must pay $72,000 in penalties for repeated child labor violations, according to a news release.
Investigators first discovered unpaid wages at a Spokane location in May of 2021. Further reviews found similar violations at 16 stores in Washington, four in Montana, two in Idaho and one in Oregon, including those operating as Super1Foods and Huckleberry’s Market.
Specifically, the grocer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay employees for meal breaks less than 20 minutes long.
The company incorrectly calculated hazard pay during the coronavirus pandemic, evening premium pay and non-discretionary bonuses in regular pay rates for overtime wages, according to the department.
Unpaid overtime wages totaling $175,363 affected 602 employees. The company must pay an equal amount in liquidated damages for breaching its employment contracts, according to the department.
Rosauers also violated federal child labor regulations by employing minors, ages 16 and 17, to operate a hydraulic paper and box compactor at its Ridgefield store, which opened in 2019.
After the department cited five child labor violations at the Ridgefield location, Rosauers agreed to pay $17,820 in penalties and to update labor practices at its other locations.
The grocer was cited for similar child labor infractions at 10 stores in 1993, the department said.
“Too often, our investigators find grocery industry employers taking advantage of these essential workers by failing to pay them correctly,” Carrie Aguilar, wage and hour division district director for the department, said in the news release. “In addition to denying hundreds of employees pay for short meal breaks, Rosauers Supermarkets jeopardized the safety of children by employing them to illegally operate dangerous machines.”
A month after the violations were initially revealed, Rosauers President and CEO Jeff Philipps announced his retirement.
Attempts to reach the Rosauers Corporate Office on Thursday were not returned.
