Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --

Recently completed task force investigations by the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division resulted in agreements to pay $189,425 in back wages to 347 employees who worked in the Mississippi Gulf Coast region. The investigations, which were conducted as part of the agency’s ongoing hurricane-related initiative, found ten of 12 employers investigated in violation of federal labor standards laws.

Nine of the companies were found in violation of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). One company was in violation of the prevailing wage provisions of the Service Contract Act (SCA). The Wage and Hour Division also fined two employers a total of $37,180 in civil money penalties for repeated overtime violations and assessed another employer $5,650 in penalties for violations of the FLSA’s youth employment provisions.

“One problem uncovered by the task force involved workers jointly employed by labor brokers and contractors engaged in Katrina re-construction efforts,” said Oliver Peebles III, director of the Wage and Hour’s Gulf Coast district office. “In some of the cases, the companies paid a fee for services provided by labor broker employees, but the brokers failed to pay these workers the required overtime rate when they worked more than 40 hours in a work week.”

The following companies have agreed to pay FLSA overtime back wages: American Labor Force, $96,151 to 169 employees; Two Brother’s Construction, $53,198 to 79 employees; Kang’s Siding, $5,694 to 6 employees; and T.L. Tootle and Associates LLC, d/b/a T.L. Tootle Construction, $9,494 to 12 employees. A fifth company, Peters Piers, agreed to pay $16,724 in SCA fringe benefits to 59 employees. American Labor Force was assessed $37,180 in penalties for repeat violations.

The remaining task force investigations were conducted at hotels, shops and a restaurant. Café New Orleans was assessed $5,650 in youth employment civil money penalties for allowing workers under the age of 18 to operate a power-driven meat slicer and also agreed to pay one employee $48 in overtime back wages. Investigations of four other employers found they failed to pay overtime to non-exempt salaried or hourly employees covered by the FLSA: Diane Dixon, doing business as Super Store #2, $2,079 to six employees; Gulf Hills Hotel, $2,153 to six employees; Krupa Inc., doing business as Days Inn, $3,680 to seven employees; and Super Video, $204 to one employee.

The FLSA requires employers to pay covered non-exempt employees overtime compensation at one and one half their basic hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a work week. The act also establishes standards for the employment of young workers.

For more information call the U.S. Department of Labor’s toll-free help line at 1 (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243), visit the Internet at www.wagehour.dol.gov, or contact the Gulf Coast district office at 955 22nd St. N., Suite 656, Birmingham, Ala.; (205) 731-1305.

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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.