Lee's Summit Business Owner Sentenced for Underpaying Employees

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Lee’s Summit, Mo., business owner was sentenced in federal court today for underpaying his employees in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Gary L. Walker, 51, of Lee’s Summit, was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Larsen to five years of probation. The court also ordered Walker to pay $196,484 in restitution to his former employees.

“This company’s former employees will not only receive the wages they rightfully earned, but will be paid restitution of twice the amount they were unfairly denied,” Dickinson said. “I will uphold the rights of employees and prosecute employers who violate federal laws designed to protect workers.”

Walker, who pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge on April 7, 2016, was the owner of Magic Touch Cleaning, Inc., a commercial janitorial business providing services to banks and health care companies.

“Gary Walker provided falsified records to the U.S. Department of Labor in order to conceal his failure to pay nearly $100,000 in wages to his employees. We will continue to work with our departmental and other law enforcement partners to ensure that employers do not victimize American workers by denying them the wages they have earned,” stated Steven Grell, Special Agent-in-Charge, of the Dallas Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

Walker’s employees were entitled to a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and overtime pay at a rate of at least one and half times the regular rate of pay after 40 hours of work in a work-week. From 2010 through Aug. 3, 2013, Magic Touch Cleaning underpaid its employees approximately $98,242 in unpaid minimum wages and overtime. The amount of victim restitution ordered by the court today represents these unpaid wages and overtime, which is doubled in a violation of the wage and hour laws and regulations. Walker will make payments of a minimum of $50,000 each year until the full amount of restitution is paid.

Under the terms of Walker’s plea agreement, the government will dismiss the civil action filed against him and his company in Perez v. Magic Touch Cleaning, Inc. et al (Case No. 15-CV-00174-SWH).

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.