Two companies and their subcontractors were found to have been in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA; the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, or SCA; and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, or CWHSSA, leading to the recovery of approximately $5.6 million in back wages and benefits, the US Department of Labor announced last week. The violations include failure to pay required wages to employees misclassified as independent contractors and failure to pay employees fringe benefits required by the SCA. The department cited recordkeeping violations for employers’ failure to maintain a record of the number of hours employees worked.
Louis Berger U.S. Inc. and its parent entity, Louis Berger Group Inc. — both based in Morristown, New Jersey — have paid $5,030,449 to resolve the SCA and CWHSSA violations, while nine subcontractors have paid $549,490 for the FLSA violations found by WHD.
“Employers must pay employees all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division Caribbean District Director Jose Vazquez. “These employees — many of whom live in Puerto Rico — have been instrumental in restoring electric power to communities. These back wages will greatly help them to rebuild and support the long-term recovery of the local economy.”
Louis Berger US Inc. and Louis Berger Group Inc. have also agreed to implement new procedures to ensure pay practices fully comply with applicable laws, and to ensure the compliance of subcontractors with the SCA, CWHSSA and the FLSA on federal contracts.
