Wannabe event planners may offer to work for nothing—but don’t fall for it. U.S. labor law requires a minimum wage for virtually all workers, and failure to pay the proper rate can be painful:
The U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday that Wave USA Inc. has paid more than $35,000 in back wages and damages to its employees for failing to pay authorized Japanese workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The DOL said agency investigators in Honolulu discovered that eight foreign nationals from Japan, who entered Hawaii through an approved J-1 visa training program but primarily worked on the front lines of the wedding and event-planning business, were paid as little as $4 per hour in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company, which does business as Ka Nalu Wedding, Blue Blue Flowers, also failed to pay the overtime rate of time and one-half for all hours worked above 40 in a week for an additional 17 workers employed by Wave, the DOL said. To remedy the violations, Wave paid a total of $35,481 in back wages and damages to the employees, according to the agency …. Law 360
