The U.S. Department of Labor accused former Lincoln City Councilman Ken Svoboda and his family's business, Ray's Lawn and Home Care, of repeatedly and willfully breaking federal labor laws.
RICHARD PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 12:00 am
The U.S. Department of Labor accused former Lincoln City Councilman Ken Svoboda and his family's business, Ray's Lawn and Home Care, of repeatedly and willfully breaking federal labor laws.
Specifically, Ray's is accused of failing to keep employment records, and making some employees work more than 40 hours a week without paying overtime.
The government says Ray's owes a group of employees at least $40,000, plus more for violations in the past year and unspecified overtime, plus interest.
Svoboda chose not to comment Tuesday without talking to his lawyer.
The labor department had announced recently it was surveying lawn and garden services for possible violations of law.
A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court says Ray's and Svoboda have violated - and continue to violate - the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Ray's and Svoboda failed to pay overtime to employees Don Flynn, Jeff Keuten, Chad McGuire, Brad Mueller and Ryan Rittscher, the lawsuit said.
"Those five employees were called 'Landscape Crew Chiefs, Pesticide Application Manager and Mowing Division Manager,'" the lawsuit said.
But they spent more than 80 percent of their time performing manual labor and did not regularly supervise two or more employees - and that makes them "non-exempt" laborers entitled to overtime when they worked more than 40 hours, according to the government.
Also, Ray's failed to make, keep and preserve adequate and accurate records, the lawsuit said.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction and an order to end the violations.
The government said amounts owed for work done from Aug. 19, 2006, to Aug. 19, 2008, are:
* Flynn, $8,039.03
* Keuten, $7,645.60
* McGuire, $7,808.29
* Mueller, $8,526.70
* Rittscher, $7,712.34
But the government considers the violations to be continuing, so the lawsuit says the employees may be owed more for work done since last year, plus unspecified amounts for overtime.
The suit also asks the court to order the defendants to pay the cost of the action.
Svoboda served on the Lincoln City Council for eight years before losing his seat in May.
During his unsuccessful run for mayor in 2008, his company's performance problems on several city contracts to maintain medians came under scrutiny.
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or dpiersol@journalstar.com.