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ESA News Release: [06/12/2006]
Contact Name: Dollie Hatchett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4651
Release Number: 06-0999-ATL

Gulf Coast Employers Agree to Pay Over $362,000 in Back Wages for 680 Workers Engaged In Hurricane Clean-Up and Rebuilding

BILOXI, Miss. — The U.S. Labor Department announced today that it has obtained agreements from three companies to pay a total of $362,673 in back wages for 680 employees in the hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast region. The companies are involved in the clean-up and reconstruction of casinos along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and have agreed to pay the back wages for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), following investigations by the department's Wage and Hour Division.

"To better protect workers helping with hurricane recovery and rebuilding, last fall the Department of Labor deployed additional investigators to ensure that employers complied with wage and hour laws," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "This stepped-up and targeted enforcement has resulted in the recovery of more than $362,000 in back wages for these workers."

Wage and Hour investigators determined that Remza Drywall & Construction Inc. of Lewisville, Texas; Atlantida Construction Inc. of Duluth, Ga., and H & H LLC of Biloxi, Miss. failed to pay their employees time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. All three of the firms misclassified employees as independent contractors and failed to pay the required overtime compensation.

Under the FLSA, covered employees must be paid time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. In the Gulf Coast region, Wage and Hour investigators have encountered the practice of employers misclassifying workers as independent contractors, although they fail to meet the legal test for independent status.

These investigations were conducted as part of Wage and Hour's ongoing hurricane-related initiative to ensure that workers involved in clean-up and reconstruction activities are being properly compensated. Wage and Hour has dispatched additional investigators to the Gulf Coast region and created a Gulf Coast Task Force to provide increased enforcement support and boost compliance outreach activities.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-9243). Information on the employment relationship criteria is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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