Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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DETROIT, MI --

A Southfield, Mich., firm that places computer professionals at locations throughout the United States has been ordered to pay $4,500,503 in back wages to 232 non-immigrant computer professionals and $1,222,000 in fines for alleged immigration law violations, the U.S. Labor Department announced today.

An investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Computech Inc. brought non-immigrant H-1B workers into the U.S., but failed to pay them the minimum required wage rate in the areas where they were employed. The investigation also disclosed that Computech frequently paid nothing at all to the H-1B workers when there were no work assignments available.

The Labor Department ordered that the $4.5 million in back wages be paid to 232 workers. If the workers cannot be located, the wages are to be paid into the U.S. Treasury. The $1,222,000 in fines were assessed for alleged “willful” violations of the wage requirements of the H-1B visa program and for alleged inaccurate information on the H-1B application materials submitted by the company. The company must pay the back wages and fines within 15 days unless it files a request for a formal hearing before a Department of Labor administrative law judge.

“The H-1B worker program is intended to help meet the legitimate needs of U.S. employers while at the same time protecting the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers,” U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said. “The Department of Labor is committed to vigorously enforcing the law to make sure that employers gain no economic advantage by using temporary foreign workers instead of American workers.”

The H-1B visa program allows foreign workers to enter and work temporarily in the United States in professional level jobs such as computer programmers, engineers, medical doctors, and teachers. H-1B workers must be paid either the actual wage paid by the employer to others for the same work or the prevailing wage paid to U.S. workers for that job in the local area, whichever is higher.

Computech Inc., headquartered in Southfield, Mich., contracts with other firms to supply computer professionals who work on the premises of those firms. It has customers across the U.S., with the largest numbers of its workers in Michigan, Illinois, California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Minnesota.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces the H-1B wage provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in addition to other federal laws pertaining to wage payments. For more information please visit www.dol.gov or call toll free 1-866-4-USA-DOL.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.