Westgate to pay $800,000 in unpaid back wages..

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Feds recover back wages from timeshare company - BusinessWeek

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Another article with more info..

U.S. Department of Labor recovers back wages for time share workers - OrlandoSentinel.com

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

$868,000/1,065 emplyee's (OPC's in this case)=$815 per employee and that was over a 2 year period. If the title of the article read, Westgate shorts their OPC's $407.50 per year for two years, it woudln't be as sensational. What stood out to me is that it said the OPC's weren't paid minimum wage. Now that would be discouraging to find out that you're standing out there in the weather trying to hustle sales for this timeshare giant and you're not even making the same wage as a McDonald's fry cook.

THe article also states that Westgate was not asked to pay any fine and no criminal charges have been filed. It appears the government, at least for now, is convinced Westgate wasn't intentionally cheating their employee's. I'm glad the government feels that way because I don't trust Westgate any further than I can throw them.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Is there anyone Westgate will not cheat ?

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

I don't think Westgate intended any type of wage violation.. The risk is far greater than the minor savings.. Most likely, the employees involved were working on commission- and simply didn't generate enough in sales to earn minimum wage. It's more of an accounting thing than an intent to purposely pay less.

The same thing can happen if you don't monitor the income of sales associates who work on commission. If they are classified as employees, they must earn minimum wage. If their sales fall off, you have to either pay them a bonus to bring them up to minimum wage- or pay them some type of advance to keep them legal.

Most likely- you make up the different and then terminate them for lack of performance.

The US Dept of Labor is really aggressive.. So since no fines were levied, I think that is a very strong indication that there was no actual intent to harm.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Anyone else might get the benefit of the doubt from me- but not Westgate.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Funny how folks like Cendant and Wastegate make these little accounting errors.

What's amazing is that any authorities cared/dared to do anything about it.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

Just to try and be fair since I posted the original article and it appears to target just Westgate.. This happens to many companies!

Here is a recent article where Walt Disney Parks and Resorts were also found to be in violation and it cost them more than $433,000..

Disney workers awarded more than $433K in back pay | TheDailyDisney.com from OrlandoSentinel.com

Again, I think it may be more of an issue of oversight than intent..