Dive Brief:

• About 6,000 employees at a marketing company who were docked for "bathroom and other short breaks" will get restitution in the amount of  about $1.75 million as the Malvern, PA-based company settles a Labor Department lawsuit, according to Philly.com.
• American Future Systems Inc., which does business as Progressive Business Publications, has to submit proposals outlining the payment process this week.
• The fine covers people who worked in offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio from July 2009 to July 2013. A DOL press release also notes that Progressive's refusal to come into compliance for more than two years during the course of the litigation will increase significantly the amount of back wages and damages due its employees as a result of its illegal pay policy.

Dive Insight:

"No worker should have to face the choice: Do I take a bathroom break, or do I get paid?" Adam Welsh, a senior trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor's Philadelphia office, told Philly.com.

The article reports that the Labor Department filed a lawsuit in 2012, alleging the company, which primarily employs telemarketers, violated the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) because "employees weren't earning the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour due to the company's policy of requiring workers to clock out while they were going to the bathroom or grabbing coffee or a smoke."

FLSA doesn't mandate personal breaks under 20 minutes, but if those breaks are offered, workers who take them must be compensated.