ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is continuing its multi-year education and enforcement initiative to increase compliance with federal labor laws in the Southeast’s agricultural industry. In addition to enforcement activity, the initiative provides compliance assistance to employers and educates workers and other stakeholders.

The division and industry stakeholders in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, are exploring methods to raise industry awareness and provide tools to increase compliance. In the months ahead, the division will complete investigations and provide outreach to workers and employers – and when necessary – leverage H-2A debarment and certificate revocations.

In 2021, investigators in the division’s Southeast Region found violations in 81 percent of the nearly 300 investigations they completed of agricultural employers. These investigations found that the employers owed more than $1.9 million to more than 4,000 employees and led the division to assess more than $1.7 million in civil money penalties. During that timeframe, the division debarred seven Southeast growers and farm labor contractors from eligibility to participate in the H-2A temporary labor certification agricultural guest worker program.

“Compliance assistance and enforcement work hand-in-hand, and data supports the need for the division’s focus on both fronts,” said Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting workers who, like those in these cases, work hard to put food on America’s tables. When employers attempt to unlawfully increase their profits at the expense of the dignity, respect and – in some cases freedom – of workers, we will use every available tool to hold them accountable.”

The department encourages recruiters, labor contractors, growers, processors, distributors, wholesalers and retailers to join in this effort to protect workers and combat labor trafficking.

Federal law empowers the division to suspend, revoke or withhold renewal of farm labor certificates for contractors that commit violations under the Migrant Seasonal Protection Act. Employers are encouraged to review the ineligible farm labor contractor and H-2A debarment lists prior to contracting for labor. The Wage and Hour Division offers compliance assistance resources, including an agriculture compliance assistance toolkit, employers can access to get the information they need to comply with the law.

For information about MSPA, H-2A and other laws enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

Read this news release En Español.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor will offer online compliance seminars for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders to provide information on the requirements governing payment of prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

Offered by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, the seminars are part of the division’s ongoing effort to increase awareness and improve compliance with federal prevailing wage requirements.

The seminars will include video training on many Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act topics that participants can view on demand. In addition to viewing the recorded videos on specific DBA and SCA topics, online Question & Answer sessions on DBA and SCA compliance will be offered live in March, June and September from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Davis-Bacon Act compliance Q&A’s are scheduled for March 29, June 14 and Sept. 13.

Service Contract Act compliance Q&A’s are scheduled for March 30, June 15 and Sept. 14.

“As the Biden-Harris administration makes unprecedented investments in the nation’s infrastructure, ensuring that employers comply with the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract acts and other laws we enforce to protect workers is critical to creating good jobs and supporting responsible employers,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “These seminars offer excellent opportunities for contractors, workers  and contracting agencies to understand the laws that govern wages and benefits on federal contracts better.”  

While seminar attendance is free, registration is required. Register to attend the Prevailing Wage seminar.

Additional information – including links to video trainings and dates for upcoming Q&A sessions, will be provided to registrants soon.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division.

WASHINGTON – Women in the U.S. must work until March 15 to be paid the same amount men were in the prior year. This unequal burden on women – especially on women of color – reflects the distance that remains before we achieve an inclusive economy with good jobs for everyone. Among other health, security and education inequities, this economic disparity drove the Biden-Harris administration’s creation of the Gender Policy Council, which has led a historic effort to dismantle these structures of inequality.

“Equal Pay Day is a concept intended to get us thinking differently about how insidious the pay disparity between men and women really is – and to get us motivated to remedy it, once and for all,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Gender inequality shows up everywhere in our society, but its expression in the workplace is striking in its fundamental unfairness. The Department of Labor has long been a leader in combating that inequality, and we continue to find new ways to understand and address it, as we are doing today by releasing new research.”

The pandemic complicated this dynamic, laying bare some of the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap. One of these is the reality of occupational segregation, whereby women are concentrated in certain occupations that pay lower wages. And the occupations and industries where women are most concentrated experienced greater job losses during the pandemic industries.

To better understand how this impacts women, the department has produced “Bearing the Cost: How Overrepresentation in Undervalued Jobs Disadvantaged Women During the Pandemic,” a report on women’s employment impacts during the pandemic and the role of occupational segregation being released today.

The report newly finds that segregation by industry and occupation cost Black women an estimated $39.3 billion, and Hispanic women an estimated $46.7 billion, in lower wages compared to white men in 2019. 

“Occupational segregation is a long-standing driver of gender and racial inequality in the workplace, but the COVID-19 pandemic exploded many of its outcomes, causing real economic harm to working women and their families, especially women of color,” said Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon. “We encourage our partners and coalitions working throughout the country to use the occupation segregation data contained the department’s report to accelerate and strengthen their work.

The department is committed to addressing occupational segregation by supporting women entering male-dominated fields, raising wages and job quality especially in women-dominated jobs, and ensuring racial and gender equity in all jobs. To achieve this, the report includes a series of recommendations for action, such as:

• Creating more equitable educational and training opportunities for women to enter non-traditional fields through pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships.
• Increasing access to policies that support workers with caregiving responsibilities, like paid leave and childcare.
• Building worker power by supporting workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain.
• Addressing discrimination and harassment in workplaces.

These actions are key components of the department’s Good Jobs Initiative, an effort Secretary Walsh announced in January 2022 to provide critical information to workers, employers and government entities as they seek to improve job quality and create access to good union jobs – free from discrimination and harassment – for all workers and job seekers.

Learn more about the Women’s Bureau.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the publication of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as it considers updating the regulations that implement the Davis-Bacon Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts to reflect better the needs of workers in the construction industry and planned federal construction investments.

The proposed rulemaking by the department’s Wage and Hour Division represents the most comprehensive review of the Davis-Bacon Act regulations in 40 years. The proposal seeks to speed up prevailing wage updates, creating several efficiencies in the current system and ensuring prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages. Over time, this would mean higher wages for workers.

“Federal dollars should be used to create good jobs in local communities all across our country,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “These proposed regulations are good for workers, good for building high-quality infrastructure and for ensuring we have a strong construction industry, as we rebuild America.”

There are 71 DBRA laws applicable to federal and federally assisted construction projects that require the payment of locally prevailing wage rates for 1.2 million U.S. construction workers. The requirements currently cover approximately $217 billion in federal spending on construction each year.

The DBRA requirements also protect workers under the unprecedented federal investments in infrastructure across the country. These projects involve clean energy, power and water infrastructure improvements, legacy pollution remediation, and renovation to the nation’s broadband and transportation infrastructures.

Many of the proposed regulatory changes will improve the department’s ability to administer and enforce DBRA labor standards more effectively and efficiently. Proposed changes include:

• Creating several efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and ensuring prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages, which over time would mean higher wages for workers.
• Returning to the definition of “prevailing wage” used from 1935 to 1983 to ensure prevailing wages reflect actual wages paid to workers in the local community.
• Periodically updating prevailing wage rates to address out-of-date wage determinations.
• Providing broader authority to adopt state or local wage determinations when certain criteria is met.
• Issuing supplemental rates for key job classifications when no survey data exists.
• Updating the regulatory language to better reflect modern construction practices.
• Strengthening worker protections and enforcement, including debarment and anti-retaliation.

The DBRA’s stated purpose is to ensure employers on federally funded or assisted construction projects pay locally prevailing wages to construction workers and to prevent the unintended consequence of depressing workers’ wages during the government’s extensive construction contracting activity.

“Given recent unprecedented investments in our nation’s infrastructure, this comprehensive regulatory review is necessary to ensure employers on federally funded or assisted construction projects pay fair wages to the workers who build our roads, bridges, federal buildings and energy infrastructure,” said Acting Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts benefit construction workers, their families, their communities and taxpayers by ensuring all contractors can compete on equal footing and by preventing employers who pay workers substandard wages from gaining an unfair competitive advantage.”

While the Wage and Hour Division solicits comments from across the construction industry, it also encourages all stakeholders to participate in the process. When the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, comments may be submitted online or commenters may address written submissions to: Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20210. 

FROSTPROOF, FL – A federal judge approved a settlement with a Frostproof farm labor contractor – Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc. – who the U.S. Department of Labor found shortchanged workers and failed to provide them with safe and sanitary living conditions – a practice that will require him to pay back wages and a civil money penalty.

The department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges affirmed the findings of an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and litigation by the Solicitor of Labor involving the farm labor contractor Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc., owned by Jose M. Gracia, and doing business at Jose M. Gracia Harvesting. Investigators found the farm labor contractor violated multiple requirements of the H-2A temporary agricultural workers visa program, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection, and Fair Labor Standards Act in Georgia and Florida. 

The judge ordered Gracia Harvesting to pay $69,372 in back wages to 152 workers and pay $180,000 in civil money penalties. Gracia Harvesting must also employ a department-approved third-party to conduct audits and monitor any H-2A contracts in which Gracia is involved within the jurisdiction of the Atlanta or Tampa District Offices over the next 3 years.

“Farmworkers help put food on tables in homes and restaurants across the U.S. and the U.S. Department of Labor vigorously protects the rights of these essential workers, including those employed as part the H-2A guest worker program,” said Southeast Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “When an employer exploits or mistreats workers, as found in this federal investigation, the Wage and Hour Division holds the employer accountable.”

Division investigators found Jose M. Gracia Harvesting, Inc. failed to provide and maintain adequate housing standards for 80 women and men he employed. Specifically, the division determined Gracia Harvesting violated the following housing and transportation safety requirements when he failed to:

• Prevent rodent and fly infestation in worker housing.
• Secure meals for workers or offer sufficient kitchen facilities. As a result, some workers had to purchase meals at an average cost that exceeding the maximum amount allowed.
• Provide a sufficient number of beds, resulting in overcrowding and workers sleeping on the floor.
• Ensure workers had heated housing during winter months.
• Provide toilets within a quarter of a mile from the work site, and failure to provide soap, potable water and single-use towels for handwashing.
• Failed to provide adequate storage for workers’ personal belongings.

Investigators also found that Gracia Harvesting failed to pay workers, maintain wage records and keep contract obligations required by law. The employer did not:

• Reimburse some H-2A workers for visa costs by their first paycheck.
• Offer at least three-fourths of the worker’s contract hours.
• Pay the required hourly H-2A wage.
• Record or pay for all hours of work.
• Provide accurate pay stubs to workers.
• Share working conditions in writing with H-2A and U.S. workers.
• Offer employment to U.S. workers first or petition U.S. workers for certain positions.
• Prevent a worker without required certification to transport employees.

Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc. provides workers for the harvesting of agricultural commodities in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Jose M. Gracia Harvesting Inc. contracts with Melon 1, one of the nation’s largest melon distributors.

For information about the laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or learn more about the Wage and Hour Division online and review our Compliance Assistance Toolkit for the Agriculture industry. Workers can call the division confidentially, regardless of immigration status, and have questions answered in over 200 languages. Check the Wage and Hour Division search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

Read this release en Español.

Date of action:                       January 11, 2022

Type of action:                      Complaint

Names of defendants:          Sentinel Security Group Inc.

Allegations: The department has filed suit in federal court alleging violations of the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer paid 58 workers, most providing security services, a fixed rate for all hours worked instead of time and one-half the employees’ hourly rate of pay, as the law requires. The employer failed to combine employees’ hours worked for overtime purposes when employees worked at different locations.

Resolution: Seeking $23,841 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages

Court: U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport Division

Docket Number:         Case 5:22-cv-00094

GOSHEN, IN – At 18 locations across Indiana, a Goshen-based credit union failed to pay 34 mortgage loan advisors and mortgage loan originators the full overtime wages they were due.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Interra Credit Union failed to include certain bonuses and commissions into the calculations of overtime pay for the affected employees. In doing so, Interra violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The mortgage loan advisors and mortgage loan originators received a salary plus commissions. However, they did not meet the minimum salary levels and duty requirements to be excluded from the employer’s overtime pay obligation as executive, administrative, or professionally exempt employees under the FLSA. Additionally, many of the mortgage loan advisors and mortgage loan administrators did not earn enough in commissions over a representative period to be exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA.   

The employer paid $18,906 in overtime back wages and an equal amount of liquidated damages for the affected employees. The employer also agreed to change payroll practices and comply with overtime regulations in the future.

“Our investigation of Interra Credit Union found systemic violations of overtime regulations. Failure to include bonuses and commissions in the calculation of overtime pay and misapplication of the regulations that allow certain salaried employees to be excluded from overtime pay requirements are among the most common violations we find,” said Wage and Hour District Director Patricia Lewis in Indianapolis. “Employers must ensure they understand the law and apply it correctly to avoid shortchanging employees of their hard earned wages.” 

The FLSA requires that most employees in the U.S. be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

NEW KENSINGTON, PA – A federal court has approved a consent judgment ordering a New Kensington landscaping company and its owner to pay $150,000 in back wages and penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the employer willfully denied overtime pay to its workers.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that – from Jan. 11, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2020 – Shurina Brothers LLC and owner Christopher Shurina failed to pay employees time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. The employer instead paid straight-time rates off the books for overtime hours, a Fair Labor Standards Act violation. Shurina Brothers also failed to record and maintain accurate daily and weekly records of total hours worked, hourly rate of pay for workweeks in which overtime was due and total premium pay for overtime.

Following litigation by the department’s Office of the Solicitor, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh ordered the company and its owner to pay a total of $61,124 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers. The court also ordered them to pay $27,751 in civil money penalties for their willful violations.

“Landscaping employees are often among the most vulnerable in the nation’s workforce,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director John DuMont in Pittsburgh. “Our investigation found Shurina Brothers LLC and owner Christopher Shurina shortchanged these workers of their rightful wages. In addition to harming their workers, the employer gained an unfair competitive advantage by ignoring their legal obligations.”

“The successful investigation and litigation should remind workers that we will defend their legal rights to be paid for all hours worked and take action against employers who disregard the law willfully,” said Adam Welsh, Counsel for Wage and Hour with the department’s Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia.

In addition to requiring payment of the back wages, liquidated damages, penalties and interest, the consent judgement enjoins the defendants from future violations of the FLSA’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements.

Based in New Kensington, Shurina Brothers LLC provides residential and commercial landscaping services.

The division’s Pittsburgh District Office conducted the investigation and the department’s regional Office of the Solicitor in Philadelphia litigated the case.

Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

UPPER DARBY, PA – A federal court has ordered an Upper Darby home healthcare agency to pay $4,544,872 in back wages and liquidated damages after U.S. Department of Labor investigators found that the employer misclassified some workers as independent contractors, which denied 503 home health aides their rightfully earned overtime wages.

Following litigation of the case by the department’s Office of the Solicitor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered a consent judgment on March 4 that requires Successful Aging Care Net Inc. and its owner Innocent Onwubiko to pay $2,272,436 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to the affected workers. The court granted summary judgment to the department on several key issues previously, including finding Successful Aging and Onwubiko liable for overtime and recordkeeping violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Separate from the consent judgment, the employer – operating as Successful Aging – must also pay $152,439 in civil money penalties the department assessed for the willful nature of the violations

Investigators with Wage and Hour Division found that Successful Aging paid straight time instead of time-and-a-half to the misclassified aides for hours over 40 in a workweek. The employer also failed to pay overtime to other properly classified employees, both FLSA violations. Additionally, the employer failed to compensate workers for time spent traveling between locations where their clients resided and did not maintain records of their travel time. Following the investigation, the solicitor’s office filed the lawsuit against Successful Aging and Onwubiko.

“Every day, home healthcare workers provide essential services to people in need and their families. said Acting Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “The Wage and Hour Division works tirelessly to protect the rights of these essential workers to receive the wages they’ve earned, and to hold employers accountable when those rights are violated.”

“Misclassifying workers and failing to pay overtime wages violates the law, and it hurts workers and their families, especially those who rely on hourly wages to make ends meet,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. “The U.S. Department of Labor will use every tool available, including litigation, to prevent employers from depriving workers of their wages and from gaining an unfair competitive advantage over employers who abide by the law.”

In addition to the back wages, liquidated damages and civil money penalties, the court’s judgement prohibits the employer from future FLSA violations.

The consent judgment follows an investigation by the division’s Philadelphia District Office and litigation by the Regional Solicitor’s Office in Philadelphia.

Founded in 2003, Successful Aging Care Net Inc. provides in home, non-medical healthcare and daily living assistance for adults, and nurse aide training at its Successful Aging Career Institute.

Learn more about misclassification of employees as independent contractors.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. The division protects workers regardless of immigration status, and can communicate with workers in more than 200 languages.

WALTERBORO, SC – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found a Walterboro landscaping company failed to reimburse workers employed in the U.S. under the H-2B guest worker program for their travel costs and failed to pay wage rates as required.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Palmetto State Forestry Services LLC violated H-2B rules and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Specifically, violations of the H-2B program occurred when the employer:

• Discriminated against U.S. workers by paying H-2B workers higher wage rates for supervisor positions and failing to advertise or offer the position to U.S. applicants.
• Failed to pay wages equal to or higher than the prevailing wage for federal, state or local minimum wage.
• Failed to pay H-2B workers for their travel costs from the country of origin to the jobsite.

Palmetto State Forestry Services LLC violated the FLSA when it failed to pay drivers for travel time to various job sites. By doing so, the employer incurred overtime violations when the additional hours exceeded 40 hours in the workweek. Palmetto also failed to keep an accurate record of hours worked.

The investigation led to the recovery of $13,516 in back wages for 31 workers. In addition, the employer paid a civil money penalty of $20,514 for the H-2B violations.

“The H-2B temporary guest worker program is intended to provide employers with workers needed to operate their businesses for a temporary time period when the workers are needed. However, the program requires that employers first advertise all available positions to U.S. workers, and once hired, workers must receive all their rightful legal wages,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Juan Coria. “The Wage and Hour Division stands ready to help workers and employers understand the requirements of the H-2B program and other laws enforced by the agency.”

The department certified Palmetto State Forestry Services LLC to employ temporary non-agricultural workers under the H-2B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire nonimmigrants to perform nonagricultural labor or services.

For more information about laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Calls can be received confidentially in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division online, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

Read this news release En Español.