SCOTT, La. (The Daily Advertiser) – While Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins workers were mixing rice, meat and seasonings to create delicious Cajun treats, their employer was cooking the books, according to a U.S. Department of Labor news release.

Instead of paying workers the wages they legally earned, the owners of Billy’s Boudin were using unpaid wages to lower their costs and increase profits, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found.

Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins consists of three enterprises offering retail grocery and prepared food items owned by William “Billy” Frey II and his wife, Patsy Frey. Their businesses include Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins in Scott; Billy’s Mini Mart Inc., doing business as Billy’s Mini Mart and Diner in Krotz Springs; and Ray’s LLC, doing business as Ray’s in Opelousas.

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division New Orleans district office investigation determined that the employer violated the overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Specifically, the employer allegedly paid employees in cash, at straight time, when they worked more than 40 hours a week, instead of paying them legally-required overtime, at time and a half their regular wages for those overtime hours, the news release states.

In addition, the employer is accused of paying employees for their first 40 hours of work each week on its payroll from one business location but paying overtime on payroll from another location at straight time, when the employees never worked at the second locations. Their overtime hours were shifted to another set of books to disguise the fact that overtime had been accrued, the news release states.

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and a half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked over 40 per week.

The company, as a result, must pay $112,724 in back wages to 102 employees plus $25,750 in penalties because of the willful nature of the violations. The employer also signed an agreement with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division which requires it to:

• Prove it is currently in compliance and agree to comply with Fair Labor Standards Act in the future.
• Provide general notice of the FLSA protections to its employee.
• Provide an FLSA Handy Reference Guide link to all current and future employees and maintain evidence of such notification in personnel files.
• Train supervisors and managers on FLSA requirements at least twice a year.