Maui apartment owner violates law, owes $84K

The owner of a Maui apartment complex where tenants did maintenance and landscaping work has run afoul of federal labor regulations and will pay $84,136 to 22 workers, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday.

Labor Department officials said the owner of Piilani Gardens Apartments, a company called Piilani Gardens LLC led by California-based Elden Holding Group and Marilyn Silva, failed to properly pay workers overtime and exceeded allowed credits for providing housing to employees.

The back pay averages to $3,824 per worker.

Pay practices at the 200-unit Piilani Gardens project built in 2004 had been investigated by the Labor Department, and the back pay was arranged to resolve the case.

An Elden representative said underpayments were a mistake made by third-party property management firm Kokua Realty.

“It was basically an error,” said Cary Lefton, an Elden principal. “Nothing was willful.”

Kokua Realty CEO Keoni Fursse disputed that his company did anything wrong but declined to comment on specifics of the case.

The Labor Department urged employers, as well as workers, to seek advice on federal wage law issues by calling a toll-free and confidential helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (866-487-9243).

“We urge all employers to use the many tools our agency offers to avoid violations and to comply with the law,” Terence Trotter, the department’s Wage and Hour Division district director in Honolulu, said in a statement. “The resolution of this case protects workers and helps level the playing field so that employers that follow the rules do not face unfair competition.”