BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Executives at a construction and excavation company in Mercer County have denied 19 workers overtime pay and provided inaccurate records that showed fewer hours than employees worked.
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division found that DCI/Shires Inc. and company President Robert Deeb and Vice President Timothy Shires failed to pay those employees the overtime rate of one and one-half times their regular hourly wage when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek and also found they did not maintain and preserve time records for 40-hour weeks.
The records showed company employees did not work more than 40 hours in a week, when they worked far more hours and were paid straight-time rates for overtime hours, in separate checks.
DCI/Shires and its officers have agreed to pay nearly $49,000 in overtime back wages and an equal amount in damages, plus about $7,100 in civil money penalties, under a consent judgment filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“We will use every enforcement tool at our disposal to ensure a fair and level playing field for employers, and to ensure that workers are paid the money they have rightfully earned,” said John DuMont, the division’s district director in Pittsburgh, in a news release.
The Wage and Hour Division’s Pittsburgh District Office conducted the investigation.