A Silicon Valley-area technology employer paid as little as $1.21 per hour in Indian rupees to employees brought in temporarily from India to work at the company's U.S. headquarters. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that Electronics for Imaging, doing business as EFI, failed to pay minimum wage and overtime compensation to several employees. Some of the employees worked as many as 122 hours per week. 

The technicians were flown in from the employer's office in Bangalore, India, to assist with the installation of the company's network and server during the company headquarters move from Foster City to Fremont in late 2013. 

Because of the investigation, EFI has paid a total of $40,156 in back wages and liquidated damages to eight employees for up to two months of work. The company also paid $3,520 in penalties because of the willful nature of the violations.

EFI, a publicly traded corporation with office locations worldwide, designs and builds digital printers and creates software applications for printing businesses. The company was founded in San Francisco in 1988.

The FLSA requires that covered employees be paid at least a minimum wage of $7.25 for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week. Employers also must maintain accurate time and payroll records.