Employee Seeks Private Recovery of Penalties in OT Pay Appeal

Document-preparation company Consilio LLC and one of its employees brought their overtime-pay dispute before a federal appeals court Wednesday in an oral argument focused on whether employees can recover statutory penalties under the Minnesota Payment of Wages Act.

The company argued the MPWA reserves enforcement and recovery of penalties to the commissioner of the state Department of Labor and Industry, but plaintiff Bruce C. Cohen said the statute provided a private right of action for recovery of “average-daily-wage” penalties by affected employees.

At issue before the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was Cohen’s claim for nearly $250,000 ...