Bluffdale contractor fined for violating federal labor laws--AKI Industries Inc., a Bluffdale-based contractor, was fined $58,905 in civil penalties for repeatedly failing to pay overtime to its employees. The company is now challenging the civil penalty, and the case is being referred to the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges.

The fine was assessed after the company was investigated a second time and was found to be still violating federal overtime rules, and even provided the federal investigators with inaccurate and misleading time records.

The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employers pay covered workers at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked, and time and one-half their regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek. Employers also must maintain adequate and accurate records of employees' wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

"A component of the Wage and Hour Division's enforcement strategy is to assess penalties and seek litigation in cases where employers continue to violate the law," said Dean A. Campbell, the Wage and Hour Division's district director in Salt Lake City. "In this case, the employer knew its conduct violated the law and concealed the accurate time keeping records from our investigator."

Global industrial group buys part of S.F. manufacturer--Sandvik Tooling, a tooling system and superabrasive components maker, acquired 49 percent of Precorp Inc., a Spanish Fork-based maker of polycrystalline diamond cutters for the aerospace and automotive industries. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.

Sandvik Tooling plans to develop a global market for diamond-based cutting tools in the growing aerospace sector, said Anders Thelin, Sandvik's president. Precorp has 140 workers, while Sandvik Tooling has 16,400 workers companywide.