U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RECOVERS $2,772,977 FOR 6,450 DISASTER RECOVERY WORKERS

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Agency- Wage and Hour Division
Date – May 8, 2019
Release Number – 19-0721-NEW

PHILADELPHIA, PA – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), WSP USA Services Inc. – based in Winchester, Virginia, and doing business as WSP USA Inspection Services, Inc. – has paid $2,772,977 in back wages to 6,450 employees for violating the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Under contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), WSP USA Services Inc. performed disaster-related housing inspections in U.S. territories and states – including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and California – following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Investigations by WHD’s Caribbean and New York City District Offices found the contracting agency’s failure to amend the contract at renewal to include the most recent wage determination led WSP USA Services Inc. to underpay SCA-required prevailing wages and fringe benefits to employees. The employer also failed to post the wage determination, which lists the required pay rates for each category of work performed, and the SCA poster, as required. The FLSA violations stemmed in part from WSP USA’s failure to include bonuses in employees’ regular pay rates when determining their overtime rates. This exclusion resulted in the employer paying overtime at rates lower than those required by law.

“Contractors that bid on government contracts must exercise due diligence and be aware of – and pay – the required rates and benefits to their employees,” said Wage and Hour Division Northeast Deputy Regional Administrator Maria Rosado. “All federal contracting agencies advertising for bids and awarding contracts are required to include the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act labor standards and a current wage determination stating the minimum wages to be paid various classes of service employees. Our enforcement of these requirements help to level the playing field for all contractors doing business with the government.”

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ICR seeks $3.62 million from VVWRA

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

SHEA JOHNSON – STAFF WRITER 
Posted Nov. 13, 2014 @ 6:42 pm 

VICTORVILLE – The staffing agency co-owned by San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor Robert Lovingood sought $3.62 million in damages from Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority this year, according to a claim obtained Thursday by the Daily Press.

In the claim dated Aug. 22, ICR Staffing Services alleged that VVWRA failed to pay prevailing wage to ICR’s contract workers between 2011 and 2013 and solicited ICR’s temporary employees to jump ship to a competing staffing agency. The claim was served Sept. 11.

“We obviously had a discussion with the claimants prior to the filing of the claim and responded,” VVWRA General Manager Logan Olds said Thursday. “The board took a look at it and the direction was to deny the claim.”

In a numbered format, the claim lists a series of alleged wrong-doings by VVWRA, which had utilized ICR workers between 2011 and 2013 for the Upper Narrows Pipeline project, but in May chose lower-bidding Hesperia-based iLink Business Management for future contract services.

In 2011, a two-year contract services agreement provided ICR employees a gross figure of roughly $260,000 per year. But since the project was subject to reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the contract should have been let as prevailing wage and “generated a gross annual billing in excess of $1.5 million,” the claim states.

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