Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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COLUMBUS, Ohio --

The Sandusky Register newspaper, Sandusky, Ohio, has paid $19,651 to 19 reporters who were receiving hourly wages but were not always paid for hours worked over 40 in a workweek and did not always receive the additional overtime compensation due them, the U.S. Labor Department announced today.

Payment of the back wages fulfills an agreement reached between the newspaper and the Labor Department to resolve an investigation conducted by the department’s Wage and Hour Division covering the period March 2003 through March 2005.

“Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), workers whose wages are paid on an hourly basis are, in most cases, entitled to time and one-half pay after 40 hours in a single workweek,” according to George Victory, district director of the Columbus, Ohio, wage and hour office.

Enforced by the U.S. Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, the FLSA generally requires employers to pay overtime at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate after 40 hours in any workweek and requires that employers pay employees for time worked.

For more information about the FLSA, call the Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243) or the Wage and Hour Division office in Columbus at (614) 469-2330. The Wage and Hour Division offers a user-friendly Web site to help employers properly pay and classify their employees. Employers and employees can visit www.wagehour.dol.gov for more information about the FLSA; an on-line tool for determining overtime eligibility -- the elaws FLSA Overtime Security Advisor – can be found at www.dol.gov/elaws/overtime.htm.

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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.