labor lawAdivision of labor law center

You might not think that an investigation of minimum wage violations in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita would affect Maine workers, but it does. A number of Maine workers stand to be paid overtime for hours worked. The company involved was caught in a dragnet conducted in the Gulf Coast.

A Texas company, ABC Professional Tree Services, does cleanup and tree-cutting services around power lines and after natural disasters, including hurricanes. Some of the $1,801,507 in back wages will go to workers who were assigned to cleanup work following Hurricane Katrina. The company is not only paying back wages to its Maine employees, but workers from Maryland, Virginia, Cincinnati, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

A tree-trimming firm from Houston, paid more than 2,500 workers below the minimum wage and now must pay them $1.8 million in back wages.

The U.S. Labor Department has found the firm in violation of federal and Maine minimum wage laws. The action follows a two-year investigation that ended in 2006.

The investigation grows out of a tip from a disgruntled former employee.  The charges were investigated by a special US Dept. of Labor taskforce  are aimed at crimes of employers in hurricane regions – such as those including Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina.

In 2006, the Labor Department and U.S. Attorneys from several states developed a task force that was designed to probe and prosecute violators of labor laws in the Gulf Coast area. Its specific mandate was to focus on crimes of employers in hurricane regions.

U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao said she was pleased that her department was able to “help these workers get the back pay they deserve. The department will continue our efforts to ensure that employers are paying workers properly.” The investigation covered the period from August of 2004 to August of 2006.

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