Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division today announced that D&J Enterprises of Auburn, Ala., has agreed to pay 239 employees $847,216 in Service Contract Act (SCA) and Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA) back wages for work performed on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hurricane cleanup contract in southern Mississippi.

“The Labor Department is committed to ensuring that employees performing on federal service contracts receive the wages and fringe benefits that they are entitled to under applicable law,” said Paul DeCamp, administrator of the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

Wage and Hour Division investigators found that D&J Enterprises violated the provisions of the SCA by failing to pay workers the required prevailing wage rate and fringe benefit amounts for work they performed in the Gulf Coast region between September 2005 and September 2006. The company also failed to pay employees overtime pay as required by CWHSSA. The company has cooperated with the Wage and Hour Division to ensure that all workers are paid the back wages they are due.

Under the SCA, contractors and subcontractors on federal service contracts over $2,500 must pay their service workers no less than locally prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits. SCA wage determinations, which are established by the Department of Labor, are incorporated by federal contracting agencies into covered service contracts. The CWHSSA requires that federal contractors pay their employees time and one-half the basic rate of pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.

This investigation was one of many compliance actions conducted by the Wage and Hour Division in the Gulf Coast region to ensure that workers involved in hurricane-related activities are properly compensated.

For more information, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243), visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.govor contact the Wage and Hour Division’s Birmingham office at 955 22nd St. N., Suite 656; telephone (205) 731-1305.

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