AUBURN, Maine — A Lewiston man who worked at the former Decoster Egg Farms in Turner is suing that owner as well as other former owners of the farm for overtime wages during a two-and-a-half year period.
Leo Sierra Flores, a Cuban immigrant, worked at the farm from December 2008 until March 2011 in various jobs, including egg packer, rail man, chauffeur, forklift operator and tractor-trailer truck loader, according to the civil complaint filed at Androscoggin County Superior Court.
Flores was paid at an hourly rate and received free housing, the complaint said.
Flores regularly worked more than 40 hours per week and sometimes worked twice that in a week, according to the suit. He was not paid the mandated time-and-a-half rate for all of the overtime hours he worked, the suit said. It was filed by Donald F. Fontaine, a Portland attorney.
Flores worked hours at the farm with no financial compensation, the suit said.
The suit names Austin J. DeCoster as the sole owner of DeCoster Egg Farm and Austin J. DeCoster Enterprises LLC in the suit as defendant, along with John Long, as sole owner of the business known as Dorothy Egg Farms LLC.
The Sun Journal was unable to locate any of the former owners or their representatives Thursday.
The suit claims that the defendants “intentionally failed and refused to pay proper wages” as required by law by using several techniques, including:
* Assigning a task, then paying only for the number of hours the owner believed the task should take.
* Paying from various sources so that no single payer was responsible for more than 40 hours of wages in a given week.
* Issuing personal checks for hours worked that didn’t appear on the pay stub of the hours officially worked in a given week in an effort to make it appear no more than 40 hours were worked in a given week.
Flores is seeking $100,000 in back wages, damages and attorney’s fees, Fontaine said.
Moark LLC, a subsidiary of Land O’ Lakes, signed a long-term lease purchase deal of the farm at the end of last year and assumed operations.
To see more from the Sun Journal visit sunjournal.com
Nationality aside, OT is OT is OT. Flores, provided he has all of his duck’s in a row, has got a case. What’s more interesting is the fact that once his claims, and supporting evidence, is introduced to the Court’s, that same evidence is now fair game for both the Maine Revenue Service and the IRS to us in a tax evasion investigation. DeCoster has been known for year’s to be one of THE cheapest operator’s in the country. One of the major reason’s he sold to LOL was to try to escape the high profile he had created by his trying to be ‘cute’ every time that OSHA,USDA, IRS or the State Inspectors came around. Well, Jack, I hate to say it but you are DONE. The minute that IRS gets a good look at Flores pay records, and see’s that you paid him out of a personal account instead of the business’s account’s to avoid proper wage and hour process’s, they are gonna slap you with a tax lien that’s gonna payoff the DHHS portion of the budget almost overnight. It’s also gonna probably wind up with the LOL deal being cancelled if the IRS decides to put a Federal Tax Lien on the operation pending the resolution. This is what you get when you get ‘cute’ with your employee’s and manage under the ‘My way or the highway’ philosophy.
And Jack, if you think that your buddy Paulie is gonna be there with a lifering, think again. This one case is making every arguement for the repeal of the Non-Union bill that he just signed stripping the employees of their collective barginning right’s. In fact, this one case is gonna have the Legislature probably introducing, and passing, a repeal of that Bill by such a large margin that Paulie, if he’s smart, is gonna stay outta this one if he knows what’s good for his political scalp since that large a veto overide vote is gonna be the last nail in Administration’s coffin. This type case is going to used by every UFCW Local as the basis for their next round of contract negotiation’s. DeCoster has done more for the need to regulate theses types of operations than the Union’s ever could.
No surprise here. The Republican Legislature turned these workers into virtual slaves by not allowing them to Unionize. Lawsuits will be the only way now to receive their back OT. Slavery is still alive and well in the state of Maine.
Really? I recall all the worst activities by DeCoster going on under the careful watch of a Democratic legislature and governor.
Did you forget that the Republicans passed a law not allowing Decoster workers to organize? How convenient, selective memory!
http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280040785
http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280040785
Not at all, and why my Rs want to be seen defending DeCoster is still beyond me. But the Ds’ hands are hardly clean on this one, and no sleight-of-hand can change that. Wither the beloved mural?
Who took away the workers’ rights to organize? I didn’t hear you.
Other than anti-discrimination laws, the right to be paid for services rendered is really the only legally enforceable right you have as an at-will employee. Never allow your employer to withhold wages for any reason, or to try to pay you with anything other than money. That goes especially for young people, who are constantly being strung along and taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers.
Three years later….. Seems like it took him a long time to realize he didn’t receive overtime pay.
I’m sure he figured this out all by himself.
What does it matter who discovered that the overtime wasn’t paid? Is it any less a crime?
Not at all…and it is a crime to be dealt with. But just like when there is a “spontaneous” protest in Augusta, I would like the newspaper to include how this became a story.
He left the job in March 2011, it doesn’t say whether it was voluntary or involuntary. For all we know he may have been fired for complaining about not receiving overtime. People typically file lawsuits after they lose their jobs, not before.
Do you suppose it is possible he worked with that pay arrangement for 2 1/2 years because, knowing Decoster does not pay time and a half, it worked for him at the time?
The article says time and a half is mandated, which means not optional.
You are right, it is the law that you pay time and half if you work over 40 hrs…..But there is no law saying that you have to work an employee over 40 hrs. Most employers will avoid paying it by hiring more employees. There are a lot of employees that would rather work at straight time to earn the extra money instead of being sent home after 40hrs.
That may be the case for some people, but such an arrangement still is illegal, and employers are aware of this.
You say one word to these Thug managers about your pay, you will be outside the gate, unemployed, looking in. There is no protection for these workers from extortion and threats. This has gone on for years and years with this type of farm work. Worse yet if you live in one of their trailer dumps or shacks you will also find yourself homeless. Bet not too many Mainers work here. Just desperate Legal Immigrants and Illegal Aliens would work under these conditions.
What a great wake up call to employers out there keeping sloppy payroll records, or none at all. Those time sheets, or “record of time work” are important when it comes to this. When DOL walks in the front door, the fun is over. Ironically, all the other employees who were cheated out of overtime will benefit as well. It’s refreshing to see the lone voice willing to take a stand.
$100,000 ? That’s Chicken-feed.
Why is the name DeCoster is making headlines? Run the guy out of the state!
Where are the criminal charges?
Tax evasion for opener’s. After that it’s a VERY short jump to Failure to pay proper wages, Failure to pay witholding, Failure to report witholding, the list goes on. But the real grabber is if the US Attorney or the IRS finds any type of 2 or more part criminal act in all of this and now DeCoster is in a whole new world of VERY deep doo-doo, namely Conspiracy to Commit, which all by itself is a 3 to 7 year ‘vacation’ in Butner or Talladega. A conspiracy charge opens up EVERY PART OF DECOSTER’S OPERATION to investigation, from IRS for tax evasion to an ICE investigation for knowingly hiring illegal alien’s to the FDA & USDA looking into his distributing un-inspected farm product’s, which also carries not just criminal penalties but civil action as well. Somehow I suspect that LOL wasn’t as through as they thought they were when they were doing their Due Dilligence in looking into DeCoster’s operation’s. Between the IRS investigation that’s on the very-near horizon, and the inevitable OSHA, DOL, USDA and FDA inspection’s and investigation’s, something tells me that LOL is going to be looking to either unload or run from this deal, courtesy of Jack and his magic shenanigan’s. Screw with the little guy who has nothing left to lose and he’s gonna win in the end. All he has to do is not go away.
What I want to know is where is the IRS, State Income Tax, Dept of Labor, Justice Dept, OSHA, Agriculture Dept, ICE and The Teamsters?
Those that are illegal would love to have all those agency’s come in and help them.
That is why I am asking ICE to come in and do its job of arresting and DEPORTING all the Illegal Criminal Aliens. It would benefit the remaining Legal Immigrants. At least they would be treated a lot better since they would be the only workers left.. I also would hope that ICE arrests and convicts the Owners and Managers for Harboring and Hiring Illegal Criminal Aliens
Give it time Knight’s, give it time. Once the civil action has it’s first hearing and Flores’ document’s are entered into the Court Record’s, well, the next step is up to whatever Federal Agency has the best case, or likely case for investigation. Criminally, the ICE folk’s and the IRS’ Criminal Division, and their Wage and Hour folk’s, are gonna be pouring thru there like beer off a fishing boat on a Saturday afternoon ! Once the records are entered, and declared proper and relevant, it’s all coming out. And you can bet that with all the screaming going on about food safety in the news that the FDA and the USDA’s Inspection Division are gonna right behind them. And if there’s any sign of contaminated product’s going out, well, when the CDC’s inspection team from Atlanta shows up DeCoster, or LOL if there still around, are gonna be looking for the 1st road out of Maine, if not the Country, the civil action’s being what they turn into. And if the CDC finds that any of DeCoster’s products turn up in a food-related death it is going to get VERY ugly, VERY QUICKLY.
As far as the Teamster’s goes, that’s up to them. One would think that with this kind of exposure they would be chomping at the bit. They probably are except for the non-union bill that Paulie signed last year. Remove that and you can bet the farm, literally, that the NLRB is gonna schedule a vote inside of 90 days. And you can bet the same farm that the NLRB is gonna end people to be sure that nether LOL or DeCoster are gonna try to harass or threaten those workers when they vote on election day. If there was ever a time for the Teamster’s to come out strong, this is it.
The Republican Legislature turn these Farm Workers into slaves unable to unionize. However TRUCKS and TRUCK DRIVERS come and go all day long to and from this Plantation. You don’t think the Chickens walk to work? The eggs roll to the stores? Chicken feed, chicken bedding, egg cartons have to be trucked. Heating Fuel on and on all Trucked. So where are the Teamsters? Plenty of Truck Drivers are servicing this Plantation. Time to get them into the Teamster Union.