Two Rancho Dominguez-based contractors for U.S. Customs and Border Protection will pay a total of nearly $2.4 million to 959 employees to settle allegations of federal labor law violations, it was announced Wednesday.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that Price Transfer Inc. and FCL Logistics LLC failed to follow federal labor requirements and include contract clauses and the wage determinations in contracts with their subcontractors, according to WHD officials.
The contractors and subcontractors also failed to pay required overtime for work performed on the contracts, triggering violations of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, according to the WHD.
“No contractor should gain an economic advantage by paying employees below the wages and fringe benefits required when doing business with the federal government,” said WHD Administrator Cheryl Stanton. “Contractors are required to provide this information to their subcontractors so that all parties know their legal responsibilities, and so that workers are paid what they have legally earned while working on these contracts.”
Contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts in excess of $2,500 are required to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality, or the rates, including prospective increases, contained in a predecessor contractor’s collective bargaining agreement.
The CWHSSA requires contractors and subcontractors to pay laborers and mechanics, including watchmen and guards, employed in the performance of covered contracts one and one-half times their basic rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.