Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. --

The U.S. Labor Department has recovered $102,058 in overtime back wages for 166 workers employed by Melvin Pierce Painting of Semmes after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined the company had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“The department is committed to ensuring that all workers receive the overtime wages that they have earned,” said Alfred B. Robinson, acting administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. “We are pleased to have recovered more than $100,000 for these workers, many of whom were working to rebuild the Gulf Coast region.”

The investigation covered the time period from January 2004 to January 2006. It established that the painting company employees, who worked more than 40 hours in a work week, received two checks. Both checks were calculated at the regular rate of pay; with neither check including additional overtime premium pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week as required by the FLSA.

The company was also assessed $36,520, which it paid in civil money penalties for these violations.

The majority of the back wages found due were a result of employees not being properly paid overtime premium pay for the hours they spent in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the rebuilding efforts on the Gulf Coast region. Over the past several months, the Wage and Hour Division has been dispatching additional investigators to the Gulf Coast region to ensure that workers involved in hurricane-related activities are properly compensated. The agency has increased enforcement and boosted compliance assistance activities in the region.

The FLSA requires that all covered employees be paid at least the minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime premium pay, calculated at one and one-half the employee’s regular rate of pay, for all hours worked in excess of forty hours per week. An employer must also keep accurate records of employees' wages, hours, and other conditions of employment.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws administered by the Wage and Hour Division, call the Labor Department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243); or visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov or the Montgomery Wage and Hour office located at The Carmichael Center, Room 215, 4001 Carmichael Rd., phone: (334) 223-7641.

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