Reprint from the Progress Times - October 19, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

Mission contractors ordered to pay back wages after two year investigation

 

Oton Guerrero Jr., Emma Guerrero and Ricardo Joel Reyna in Mission, have agreed to pay $22,770 in back wages to eight current and former truck drivers after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found the employees had not been properly paid as required by the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA).
"Past investigations have revealed that these contractors have failed to properly pay wages and fringe benefits to their employees," said Cynthia Watson, the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrator for the Southwest. "The department is committed to enforcing the law to ensure that employers fully comply with wage and hour regulations, and we are pleased that eight workers will receive almost $23,000."
An investigation covering a two-year period determined that the Guerreros did not pay employees the prevailing wage for all hours worked in accordance with three contracts held with the United States Postal Service. Reyna, who held one contract with the postal service and assisted the Guerreros in the management and implementation of the three contracts, also failed to pay wages and fringe benefits pursuant to those contracts.
In February, a complaint seeking debarment of the three individuals as SCA contractors was filed with the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges for alleged violations of the act. In June, a default judgment was issued debarring Oton Guerrero Jr., Emma Guerrero and Ricardo Joel Reyna.
The Guerreros and Reyna are engaged in hauling postal mail in and around highway routes in south Texas. The Guerreros have fully paid $21,758 in back wages to seven employees, while Reyna has paid $1,012 to one employee. Both employers have agreed to future SCA compliance.
The SCA covers contracts entered into by federal agencies where the principal purpose of the contract is to furnish services in the United States through the use of "service employees." The law requires that every federal service contract in excess of $2,500 contain a wage determination setting forth wages and fringe benefits prevailing in the locality or contained in the collective bargaining agreement of the predecessor contractor.
The Wage and Hour Division concluded 31,987 compliance actions and recovered more than $171 million in back wages for more than 246,000 employees in fiscal year 2006. Back-wage collections last year represent a 30 percent increase over back wages collected in fiscal year 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased by 14 percent since 2001.