At least one firm is working on a robot to pump gasoline as U.S. unemployment continues at near Depression levels.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has started an enforcement initiative focusing on New Jersey gasoline stations, the result of consistent and widespread noncompliance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA). This initiative is part of the division’s goal to achieve “sustainable and system wide compliance” in industries with high concentrations of vulnerable workers.
“We have found that New Jersey gasoline stations are rife with violative pay practices such as paying workers a flat salary or ‘straight time’ wages for all hours, without regard to minimum wage and overtime requirements, or paying workers ‘off the books,’ rather than maintaining legally required payroll records,” said George Ference, regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the Northeast. 
From 2007 to 2010, the Wage and Hour division conducted nearly 100 investigations of New Jersey gasoline station employers, recovering more than $1.2 million in minimum wage and overtime back wages for 381 workers who were denied fair compensation for all hours of their work, in violation of the FLSA. These investigations also resulted in nearly $15,000 in penalties assessed for FLSA violations.
The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour as well as one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for hours worked over 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.
“The Labor Department will not allow gasoline station employers — many of whom operate under the banner of multi-billion-dollar corporations — to exploit workers and deprive them of their hard-earned wages,” Ference said.
New Jersey is one of only two remaining states in the country where motorists are barred from pumping their own gasoline, requiring gasoline stations to employ full-service attendants to operate gasoline pumps and provide other related customer services.
The Wage and Hour division is concerned about the large number of gas station workers who are exposed to high levels of risk with respect to their wages and employment conditions, due to a variety of reasons including lack of legal knowledge or fear of job loss.
As part of this initiative, the division will investigate gas stations to identify patterns of minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping violations. When violations are found, the division will “vigorously” pursue corrective action — including payment of back wages, civil money penalties and liquidated damages – to ensure accountability and deter future violations.
The initiative will be led by the division’s Mountainside District Office; telephone 908-317-8611. For more information on the FLSA and other federal laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit http://www.dol.gov/whd.
