Feds bust West Columbia gas station for allegedly not paying employees overtime (2024)

COLUMBIA— A West Columbia gas station failed to pay more than two dozen employees overtime, resulting in over $153,000 in unpaid wages, the U.S. Department of Labor announced May 15.

Samer Express, a gas station and convenience store off Highway 321, failed to pay 29 employees who worked more than 40 hours a time-and-a-half hourly rate, an investigation from the federal labor department found.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, enacted in 1938, established requirements for minimum wage, overtime pay and other issues.

“Failing to pay the proper rate for all of the hours employees work is a violation employers can and must avoid," said Jamie Benefiel, the wage and hour division district director in Columbia.

The gas station, which filed for a business license in January 2017, is owned by Efrain Sanchez, according to the state's business filings database.He also owns Sanchez Construction.

He did not return messages left with both his construction company and his gas station.

The hefty sum of back pay adds to a $271,000 sum the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered from South Carolina employers this year.

A month ago, the labor department recovered $125,000 in back pay for 25 employees of Krafty Draft Brew Pub, a Lexington bar and restaurant, after owners illegally split tips.

Before that, two other restaurants faced disciplinary action for failing to pay employees.

In October 2023, Garibaldi Mexican Restaurant in Columbia was found to have kept nearly $400,000 in wages from employees and failed to pay minimum wage.

Alodia's Cucina Italiana in Lexington was fined $2,100 from the state's labor department for withholding wages from employees after most of the staff walked off the job a few months prior.