labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Two federal subcontractors must pay workers almost $1 million in back wages after a recent investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

The two firms, with headquarters in Duncan, South Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana, were subcontractors of CH2M Hill of Englewood, Colorado. L&R Security Inc. and HKA Enterprises Inc. have agreed to pay $941,537 in back pay to 382 current and former employees. The wages go to people employed as security guards and debris removal workers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The investigation showed that both companies failed to pay overtime when employees worked more than 40 hours per week. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA, employees must be paid 1.5 times their usual hourly rate when they work more than 40 hours in a single week.

The U.S. Department of Labor also found that the two companies violated the Davis Bacon Acts and the CWHSSA by failing to pay the prevailing wage and provide prevailing fringe benefits to workers, as required of federal contractors.

“The department has made a concerted effort to ensure that workers involved in Hurricane Katrina recovery and cleanup know their rights and are paid all the wages they are owed,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “In this case, almost $1 million in back wages will be paid to nearly 400 workers.”

L&R Security, Inc. provided armed security guards at the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer sites in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans-based company has agreed to pay $185,385 in back wages to 239 workers. In addition, the company will pay a penalty of $37,620 for repeat violations. According to sources, this is not the first time that the company has violated the federal minimum wage laws.

HKA Enterprises of Duncan, South Carolina provided staff to monitor the removal of debris in New Orleans under a FEMA contract held by CH2M Hill from early October to early December 2005. HKA Enterprises has agreed to  pay $756,152 in unpaid overtime to 143 workers.  HKA has 11 U.S. offices reaching from Michigan to Florida. The company’s website says that it provides technical, administrative, specialty craft and skilled labor resources on a contract basis.

A U.S. Department of Labor task force uncovered a number of wage abuses and violations in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The task force uncovered a number of violations, some from companies involving workers nationwide.

This is just the most recent in a series of minimum wage violations uncovered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

In August, five jointly-operated restaurants in Long Island, New York were ordered to pay almost $1 million to 191 low-wage workers. The employees had been forced to work long hours for wages less than the minimum wage, without overtime pay.  The court ordered that if the employers did not pay up, their restaurants could be sold and the proceeds used to pay the employees.

In early July, the U.S. Department of Labor forced 107 subcontractors of KBR, Inc. of Virginia to pay some $1.5 million in back wages and benefits for up to 2,600 workers who participated in the Hurricane Katrina recovery project. The construction workers were involved in repairs to the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport Mississippi or the Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The U.S. Department of Labor is still searching for some of the workers involved in that case. Anyone who believes that they are owed back wages for these projects can contact the nearest U.S. Department of Labor office. The average payment per worker in that case was $616.

The U. S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division collected more than $171 in back wages for some 246,000 employees in 2006. Thos wages were a result of 31,987 “compliance actions” in 2006.

 

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