NEWS

HAGÅTÑA (USDOL) — Forty-three workers left the Philippines, traveling 1,550 miles to Guam through a federal temporary work visa program. While working at various construction sites on Guam, their employer willfully withheld their hard-earned overtime pay. Once the U.S. Department of Labor investigated, these workers received all of the wages they had earned.

After its investigation, the department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $202,390 in unpaid overtime wages that Asian Construction Development Corp. owed to the 43 employees. Investigators found that the general contractor employer failed to pay the workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. The division also assessed the employer $29,971 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of the violations found.

Investigators found the contractor paid workers for their first 40 hours each week by check, and recorded these payments in their payroll records. However, Asian Construction Development Corp. paid for any overtime hours employees worked in cash, at straight-time rates, and kept a separate, unreported record of these overtime hours.

“Employers must record and pay workers for all of the hours they work, including overtime,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Terence Trotter, in Honolulu. “The workers in this case left their home countries to work for this employer, and deserved to be paid every penny they have legally earned.”

The division offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos and confidential calls to local Wage and Hour offices. Learn more about the FLSA. Contact the Wage and Hour Division toll-free at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) for more information.

Source: Marianas Variety