Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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SEATTLE -- Watterson-Prime LLC, a limited liability company doing business as Watterson-Prime in Bellevue, Wash., and its president, Bruce Watterson, will pay 197 workers a total of $766,334 in back wages under terms of a consent judgment filed in federal court, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today.

An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the company failed to compensate the workers at the applicable federal minimum wage and also failed to compensate them for overtime at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked after 40 hours in a workweek, as required under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Overtime was due primarily for travel time between July 1, 2005, and Oct. 31, 2006.

Prior to being sold, Watterson-Prime was a locally owned and operated firm that performed mortgage reviews for financial and mortgage lending institutions nationwide. The company, which cooperated fully in the investigation, denied any liability but agreed to the payment of the back wages. The settlement agreement was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions in fiscal year 2006 and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees. 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.

Information about the FLSA is available at the U.S. Department of Labor's toll-free help line at 1 (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243) or by calling the Wage and Hour Division’s district office in Seattle at (206) 398-8039. Information is also available on the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov.

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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.