Newly released documents show a coastal Georgia resort violated labor laws more than 500 times and collectively underpaid employees by more than $46,000.
The Brunswick News obtained the documents relating to violations at the Sea Island Resort earlier this month through a Freedom of Information Act request of the U.S. Labor Department.
The investigation into the resort lasted for more than two years. It found 240 violations of record keeping for workers younger than 18,167 instances of failure to pay overtime, 98 violations of failure to pay minimum wage and one occurrence of failure to keep accurate records. There was $45,849.20 in unpaid overtime and $1,073.25 in unpaid minimum wages.
Documents show Sea Island told investigators in October 2017 that the company wasn't aware that it needed to have documents proving how old its workers were on hand.
Sea Island told the department in March 2018 that its own review showed it owed employees $60,000 for unpaid overtime. According to the Labor Department the enforceable total was $46,922.45, which Sea Island agreed to pay by April 20, 2018.
Sea Island declined to add to a 2018 statement by CEO Scott Steilen. At the time, he said, “While I am convinced that this was an isolated incident, we are now conducting more frequent, random audits and providing additional training on existing policies to avoid any future occurrences."
Note: This story has been corrected to show that unpaid overtime wages were more than $1,000, not more than $1 million.
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