Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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ANNANDALE, Pa. -- U.S. Investigations Services Inc., doing business as U.S. Investigation Services LLC (USIS) has agreed to pay $241,572 to 536 of the company’s own investigators after a U.S. Labor Department investigation found overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Annandale company provides investigative services to clients throughout the United States.

The Labor Department investigation, conducted by the Pittsburgh District Office of the department’s Wage and Hour Division, covered the period from September 2003 through March 2006. Government investigators determined that the company was not paying its field investigators at one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.

“When computing wages, the company used the same flat hourly overtime rate for all investigators regardless of their regular rate of pay, resulting in overtime violations,” said John DuMont, district director of the Wage and Hour Division office in Pittsburgh. “Employees covered by the FLSA must receive the proper overtime compensation for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek.”

In addition to paying the back wages, the company has agreed to future compliance with the law.

The FLSA requires that employees be paid the federal minimum wage and overtime at time and one-half their regular rates of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week, unless otherwise exempt. The FLSA also contains recordkeeping requirements and youth employment standards.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees in fiscal year 2006. Back-wage collections last year represent a 30 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 14 percent since 2001.

For more information on the FLSA, call the Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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