A group of Houston-area construction workers will be receiving some of the money that’s owed to them, thanks to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department last week announced that it has recovered $178,358 in overtime back wages for 27 employees of M&M’s Welding & Fabricating, a welding and fabrication company in southwest Houston. The employees in question, who specialize in erecting steel buildings, were classified as independent contractors, but an investigation by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division determined that this was wrong.
In a statement, Wage and Hour Division District Director Robin Mallett in Houston said that M&M’s Welding had “exploited vulnerable workers” in classifying them incorrectly .
“Employers who do this harm workers and their families who depend on their earnings and benefits,” Mallett said. “They also gain an unfair advantage over their business competitors who abide by the law.”
M&M’s Welding did not respond to a request for comment.
Workers classified as employees are entitled to certain minimum wage and overtime pay protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act; independent contractors are not.
“It’s very common for workers to be told they’re independent contractors — and to even believe it, because that’s what they’ve always been told, that’s how they’ve always been treated,” said Bill Beardall, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and executive director of the Equal Justice...
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