Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --

The U.S. Labor Department has recovered $25,163 in back wages for 153 employees of Contract Labor Solutions following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division. The company has a federal service contract to clean up debris caused by Hurricane Katrina at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Miss.

“The department is committed to ensuring that employers with federal service contracts comply with all provisions of the Service Contract Act (SCA),” said Oliver Peebles III, Gulf Coast district director for Wage and Hour.

Wage and Hour investigators determined that from September through December 2005, the company failed to pay employees the required fringe benefits and, on two occasions, failed to pay workers for holidays, as required by the SCA.

Peebles added that the company was cooperative during the investigation, agreed to comply in the future and paid the back wages.

Contract Labor Solutions is headquartered in St. Charles, Ill., with a branch office in D’Iberville, Miss.

The investigation was one of several conducted under Wage and Hour’s Katrina-related initiative to ensure that workers involved in hurricane-related activities are 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.

Under the SCA, contractors and subcontractors on federal service contracts over $2,500 must pay their service workers no less than the wages and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality. The Labor Department issues wage determinations that provide the required SCA wage rate and fringe benefits for each service occupation. These determinations are incorporated into covered federal contracts.

For further information about the SCA 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 Wage and Hour Division Web site at www.wagehour.dol.gov, or contact the Wage and Hour Gulf Coast district office at (205) 731-1305.

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