Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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TAMPA, FL -- The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that L-3 Communications Corporation, St. Petersburg Division, has paid $261,507 in previously unpaid overtime wages to 186 employees following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

“This Administration is committed to ensuring that employees receive the wages they have earned,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “In this case, $260,000 was recovered in back pay for these workers. Through the determined efforts of the department’s Wage and Hour Division, nearly $200 million in back wages was recovered for more than 288,000 workers last year and the average time required to resolve a complaint decreased from 108 to 92 days.”

When L-3 Communications hired these workers, they were erroneously classified as exempt from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As soon as the error was discovered, the company remedied the problem and began paying appropriate overtime for the future.

A Wage and Hour investigation showed that the employees had not been paid back overtime wages for the period of time during which they were misclassified as exempt. Company officials cooperated with the investigation and all back wages have been paid.

The FLSA requires that all covered employees be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty per week.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Labor Department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243); visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov or call the Tampa Wage and Hour Division office, 4905 West Laurel St., Suite 300, phone: (813) 288-1242.

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