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Federal contractor agrees to pay more than $282,000 in back wages following US Labor Department investigation at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi
International Security Management Group to compensate 46 security employees
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- The U.S. Department of Labor has secured an agreement from the International Security Management Group to pay more than $282,000 in back wages for 46 security employees, following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division which disclosed that the company had failed to pay employees the required prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits for all hours worked in violation of the federal McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.
ISMG is an Atlanta, Ga.-based security management company operating in 28 states. In 2008, the company was awarded a federal service contract to provide armed security guard services at the U.S. Government Printing Office at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. This contract is subject to the SCA, which requires contractors and subcontractors performing services on covered federal contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees working in various classes no less than the prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits according to wage determinations issued by the Labor Department.
“ISMG security guards worked long hours, maintaining vigilance over federal facilities and risking their own safety to ensure that of others. These workers deserve to be paid properly,” said Kenneth Stripling, the Wage and Hour Division’s district director in Birmingham, Ala. “The resolution of this case should remind all contractors that the department will not hesitate to investigate if they deny service employees the prevailing wages or fringe benefits due under federal law.”
Investigators determined that several security guard trainees had been undercompensated and paid at the minimum wage rate rather than the required prevailing wage rate for all hours of their training time, in violation of the SCA. The company also failed to pay its workers the health and welfare benefits, holiday pay and vacation pay required by the contract.
After conducting interviews and reviewing records for actual hours worked, holiday and vacation hours, and regular rates of pay, investigators determined that ISMG owed a total of $282,629 in back wages to the 46 employees. The company has agreed to pay this amount in full and has committed to maintaining future compliance with the SCA.
For more information about the SCA or other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, call the division’s Birmingham District Office at 205-397-7100 or its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
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