A general store in Kennebunk has paid more than $92,000 in back wages and damages to 69 employees for failing to properly pay overtime wages, according to federal employment officials.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that H.B. Provisions, a store in Lower Village Kennebunk, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when it paid workers straight-time rates in cash and off the books for hours worked beyond 40 in a week, the department announced Wednesday.

Employers are required by law to pay for overtime hours at one and a half employees’ regular pay rate.

H.B. Provisions failed to record the overtime hours in time records, according to the department. The affected employees worked as cooks, cashiers, stockers, bakers and non-exempt managers.

The business had to pay $92,055 in back wages and liquidated damages. The Wage and Hour Division also assessed $20,752 in civil penalties “due to the willful nature of the violation,” according to the department.

“Ensuring that employers pay employees fully and correctly for all the hours that they work not only provides employees with the wages they are due, it also levels the playing field for those employers who are already complying with the law,” Wage and Hour Division Northern New England District director Daniel Cronin said in a news release. “Violations like those in this case can become very costly – and they are avoidable. We encourage employers to reach out to us for assistance.”

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