Two Middlesex County, New Jersey-based employment staffing firms and their owners paid $256,992 in back wages and liquidated damages in a suit involving 238 current and former employees under a consent judgment for not paying overtime, the US Department of Labor announced March 14.

The impacted workers were placed with businesses in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The companies, Empone Inc. and Talenique Inc., have paid the wages and damages owed to the Wage and Hour Division, which is disbursing these funds to the workers. The companies will also pay a civil penalty of $463,407.

The department noted the responsibility of joint employers, including staffing firms and host companies in some circumstances, to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

“Temporary workers can be vulnerable to exploitation and underpayment, but the companies who contract for temporary workers can have responsibilities as well,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Carlos Matos said in a press release. “They may also be liable as joint employers if the temporary employees are not paid properly. The Wage and Hour Division encourages joint employers, including those who use temporary staffing agencies, to verify that all employees are being paid properly under the Fair Labor Standards Act.”

An investigation found Empone Inc. and Talenique Inc. failed to pay employees the correct overtime wage of time and a half for working more than 40 hours in a workweek, according to the department. The investigation also uncovered FLSA recordkeeping violations. 

Empone Inc. and Talenique Inc. supplied temporary employees to companies such as Greenhead Lobster Products LLC in Stonington, Maine; Maine Coast Shellfish LLC in York, Maine; Bombay Duck Company Ltd. in Acton, Massachusetts; and Alene Candles LLC in Milford, New Hampshire.