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ESA News Release: [03/29/2004]
Contact Name: Dolline Hatchett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4650

Siemens Building Technologies Agrees to Pay Employees $1.2 Million in Alleged Unpaid Overtime

SEATTLE—The U.S. Department of Labor announced today the filing of a consent judgment in which Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., of Bellevue agrees to pay 52 employees $1,204,203 in overtime back wages for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“The Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that workers are paid correctly for all hours worked and for overtime compensation as required under federal law,” said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “Through the Department of Labor’s determined efforts more than $212 million in back wages were recovered for American workers last year.”

Siemens Building Technologies, with corporate offices in Buffalo Grove, Ill., provides design, installation and service and testing of building controls and energy service systems.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the employer failed to pay non-exempt hourly paid engineering specialists for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The department also found the company failed to pay overtime to three non-exempt, salaried general engineers and did not maintain complete records for them. Siemens fully cooperated in the efforts to resolve this matter to ensure appropriate back wage pay for the alleged violations and assured future compliance.

The investigation covered the period from Oct. 1, 2001 until Oct. 1, 2003.

In addition to paying back wages, the consent judgment requires future compliance with the overtime and record keeping provisions of the FLSA.

Under the FLSA, employers must pay covered workers at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay after 40 hours in a workweek and must maintain accurate records about employees, their hours worked and their wages earned.

The WHD recovered more than $212 million in back wages in fiscal year (FY) 2003, a 21 percent increase over the record setting amount of FY 2002. Average days to resolve a complaint decreased in FY 2003 from 129 days to 108 days. WHD assessed employers nearly $10 million in civil money penalties in FY 2003.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Wage Hour District Office at 206-398-8039 or the department’s toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243). Information is also available at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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