US Department of Labor obtains judgment to recover over $1M in back wages, damages for over 100 current, former Bronx, Long Island gas stations’ workers

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court judgment requiring 15 gas stations – operating under brands such as BP, Mobil and Sunoco – in Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk counties and their owner and president to pay more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to more than 100 current and former employees in response to a federal investigation. 

In March 2022, the department’s Office of the Solicitor filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York based on an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division which found that from 2015 through 2018 businesses owned by Jagjit Singh failed to pay employees overtime, paid some less than minimum wage and did not keep wage records as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Specifically, the division found the employer violated federal law by doing the following:

• Withholding overtime pay from employees who often worked well over 40 hours per week, including some who exceeded 85 hours per week; instead, paying straight-time rates when the required overtime rates were owed.
• Failing to pay some employees at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
• Not maintaining accurate or complete records of wages, hours and other employment conditions. Some stations had no records before 2017 or incomplete records. 

“As an owner of 15 gas stations, Jagjit Singh deliberately and illegally denied over one hundred employees and their families of hard-earned wages,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director David An in Westbury, New York. “The back wages recovered, and damages and penalties assessed, send a clear signal to all employers that intentionally defying federal law will have costly consequences.”

In addition to requiring Singh and his businesses to pay $549,673 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, the judgment directs the employers to pay $75,655 in civil money penalties to the department for the willful nature of the violations. View the consent judgment.

“The U.S. Department of Labor does not hesitate to pursue all actions, including litigation, to protect workers whose employers fail to fulfill their legal obligations,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York. “The department has zero tolerance for employers who choose to disregard federal wage requirements.”