Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Sunflower County, Miss., Sheriff’s Department has paid $34,849 in back wages to 18 employees following a U.S. Labor Department’s determination of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime violations.

“Non-exempt employees must be compensated for all hours worked and they must be paid overtime,” said Oliver Peebles III, district director for the department’s Wage and Hour Division’s Gulf Coast district office, Birmingham.

The investigation determined that from April 2003 to March 2005, dispatchers and a deputy sheriff should have been classified as non-exempt employees and paid overtime compensation when they worked more than 40 hours in a work week.

Investigators also found that deputy sheriffs were not paid for short break periods, and that the County did not combine hours of work for an employee who worked under two job classifications. The practices resulted in overtime back wages for the affected employees.

Peebles added that Sunflower County officials immediately agreed to come into compliance and were cooperative throughout the investigation.

The FLSA requires covered non-exempt workers to be paid one-and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a single work week. Employees must also be paid at least the federal minimum wage, and employers must maintain accurate records of employees’ wages, hours, and other conditions of employment.

The Wage and Hour Division recovered nearly $200 million in back wages in fiscal year 2004 for more than 288,000 workers. Average days to resolve a complaint during that time decreased from 108 days to 92 days.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243); visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov; or contact the Birmingham Wage and Hour office, which covers Mississippi and Alabama. The office is located in the Medical Forum, 950 22nd St., N., Suite 656, phone (205) 731-1305.

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