Southern California Security Service to Pay Employees $309,189 For Overtime Violations Following U.S. Department of Labor Investigation

WEST COVINA, CA – After a U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation, GI Security Inc. – based in West Covina, California – will pay $309,189 to 126 employees for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WHD investigators found GI Security Inc. failed to pay employees overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Instead, the employer paid employees for their first 80 hours of work each pay period on the payroll, and paid for remaining hours in cash, at straight time rates. The Whittier, California-based employer also failed to record accurately the total number of hours employees actually worked, a violation of FLSA recordkeeping requirements.

"Employers are responsible for ensuring that they pay all employees the wages they have legally earned, and for keeping accurate records of the number of hours they work," said Wage and Hour Division District Director Danny Pasquil, in West Covina, California. "Other employers should use the outcome of this case as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to ensure that they comply with the law. Violations like those in this case can be avoided."

GI Security Inc. provides armed and unarmed security guard services for events throughout Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the Division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers who discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program.  Information is also available at www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by WHD.

The mission of WHD is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation's workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.