Man holds book that reads :FLSA - Fair labor standards act"

A recent investigation has recovered $20,849 in back wages for 31 workers after the U.S. Department of Labor and its Wage and Hour Division found a North Charleston, South Carolina employer violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Investigators determined that instead of tracking the number of hours employees worked each workweek and paying overtime when they worked beyond 40, Quality Touch Janitorial Service Inc. tracked and paid overtime after employees worked 86.67 hours in a semi-monthly pay period. The FLSA requires employers to pay overtime for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek. 

The division also found the cleaning company failed to include certain hazard and specialty cleaning pay in workers’ regular rates of pay when calculating overtime rates. Excluding those amounts resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.

“Employers are welcome to establish any pay period they choose, but regardless of whether they decide to pay weekly, bi-weekly, twice a month, or on some other schedule, they still must track workers’ hours each week to determine when overtime is due,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “The pandemic has made our work to ensure essential workers take home every cent of their hard-earned wages and that employers understand their responsibilities vitally important. We encourage anyone with questions to reach out to us for confidential assistance.”