A New Jersey landscaping company must pay $400,000 in back wages and damages to its employees, per a federal court ruling. Fullerton Landscapes provides residential, design/build, construction and landscaping services.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Succasunna-based Fullerton Landscapes and its owner, Douglas B. Fullerton, illegally denied time-and-a-half pay for working more than 40 hours in a week to 32 employees.

Following litigation by the Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey ordered a payment of $200,000 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers.

“Paying straight-time rates or rates below straight time for overtime hours worked shortchanges workers of the hard-earned wages they need to make ends meet, and violates the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Paula Ruffin, director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division office in Mountainside, N.J. “Unfortunately, these types of violations are common in the landscaping services industry. We encourage employers to contact the Wage and Hour Division about their responsibilities and workers to contact the agency with questions about their rights.”