Telemarketing company will pay $560,000 in back wages, damages
A Las Vegas-based telemarketing company must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and damages.
The U.S. District Court in Nevada has ordered Intelliconnect Communications LLC, owners Brenda Portela and Stephanie Meehan and successor employer S&M Management Services to pay $280,000 in minimum wage and overtime back wages, plus $280,000 in liquidated damages, to 398 employees.
The order resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division found through an investigation that from 2010 through 2012, Intelliconnect classified its telemarketers as independent contractors, which denied them minimum and overtime earnings. Federal investigators found that the employer paid telemarketers based on a percentage of individual sales, resulting in many of them working for days and weeks for little or no pay.
The court ordered that Intelliconnect be independently monitored for the next three years to ensure future compliance with wage laws. It also prohibits retaliation against employees for accepting back wages or for exercising their rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Intelliconnect also agreed to annual training sessions for the next three years.
Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.
