Wage and Hour Collects $172 Million in Back Wages for over 246,000 Employees in Fiscal Year 2006

Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor recovered more than $171.5 million in back wages for over 246,000 employees in fiscal year 2006.  Back wage collections represent a 3.6 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2005.  The number of workers who received back wages in fiscal year 2006 increased by 2.3 percent over the number receiving back wages in fiscal year 2005.  The agency concluded 31,987 compliance actions and assessed nearly $7.9 million in civil money penalties.

OVER 222,000 EMPLOYEES RECEIVED FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT BACK WAGES

In fiscal year 2006, more than 222,000 employees received a total of $135.7 million in minimum wage and overtime back wages as a result of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations.  WHD collected over $120.5 million in back wages for FLSA overtime violations and more than $15.2 million for FLSA minimum wage violations.  Back wages for overtime violations represented roughly 89 percent of all FLSA back wages collected, and the number of employees due overtime back wages represented about 87 percent of all employees due FLSA back wages.  WHD assessed employers $2.9 million in FLSA civil money penalties.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE PART 541 OVERTIME SECURITY REGULATIONS

Of the $135.7 million in FLSA back wages collected, over $13.2 million were collected for approximately 12,000 employees for violations of the revised Overtime Security regulations (29 C.F.R. Part 541).  This compares to $13.6 million collected for approximately 10,000 employees in fiscal year 2005.  The violation most frequently cited was one in which the employee's primary duty was not "the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers."  This violation of the administrative duty test was cited in 353 cases and affected approximately 2,800 employees.

BACK WAGES COLLECTED FOR WORKERS IN LOW-WAGE INDUSTRIES INCREASED

WHD continues to pursue compliance in low-wage industries that employ young and immigrant workers.  In fiscal year 2006, the agency collected nearly $50.6 million in back wages for approximately 86,700 workers in low-wage industries - an increase of over 10 percent of back wages collected in the same low-wage industries during the previous fiscal year.  Over a third of WHD enforcement resources are attributed to investigations in nine low-wage industries, which include day care, restaurants, janitorial services, and temporary help.

NUMBER OF MINORS EMPLOYED IN COMPLIANCE WITH CHILD LABOR LAWS

Results for fiscal year 2006 show a total of 3,723 minors found illegally employed, an average of 3.4 minors illegally employed per investigation.  The majority of child labor violations occurred when workers under the age of 16 worked too many hours, too late at night, or too early in the morning.  In total, 2,356 minors were employed in violation of the child labor hours standards.  Hazardous Occupation Order (HO) violations were found in a third of the cases with child labor violations.  Violations of HO No. 12 (paper balers) were the most common type of HO violation found followed by violations of HO No. 10 (meat slicers), and HO No. 2 (driving).  WHD assessed nearly $3 million in child labor civil money penalties in fiscal year 2006.

If you have any questions regarding Wage & Hour, please contact HR-OneSource at (515) 221-1718.