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USDOL recovers $17K for 10 workers in Guam
O.H. Construction also assessed $6K in penalties
TAMUNING, Guam—A federal investigation has found that a construction company under contract with the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority disregarded its legal obligation to pay 10 workers the required overtime rate for hours worked over 40 in a work week.
Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that O.H. Construction—owned by Michael Jeon Lee—violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employer also violated minimum wage, payroll and basic records provisions of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts by not paying the higher applicable wage to workers in multiple job categories. The company also did not display or make available required DBRA informational resources at the work site, as the law requires.
The division recovered $17,640 in back wages and liquidated damages for the affected workers, and assessed $6,170 in civil money penalties for reckless disregard of the act.
“Employers can’t enter into ad-hoc agreements with workers that deny them their lawfully earned overtime wages,” said Wage and Hour Division district director Terence Trotter, in Honolulu. “Employers should take advantage of the many educational tools we offer in order to avoid costly violations such as those found in this case.”
In fiscal year 2021, the Wage and Hour Division identified more than $36 million in wages owed to people working in the construction industry.
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) with questions. 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. 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. (PR)
