U.S. Department of Labor investigation recovers back wages for local workers
After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), D&L Inc. – a heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration company based in Blytheville, Ark. – has paid $40,371 in back wages to 52 employees working out of its Blytheville and Darlington, South Carolina, locations for violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
WHD investigators determined that D&L Inc. – doing business as D&L Inc. HVAC & Sheet Metal – failed to count the time employees spent driving between job sites as work time when determining when overtime was due.
Instead, the employer recorded drive time separately and paid for it at straight time rates, regardless of the total number of hours employees worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime when those hours occurred in workweeks of more than 40 hours.
D&L Inc. paid back wages to 36 employees in Blytheville and 16 in South Carolina.
