JACKSON, MS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $44,280 in back wages and liquidated damages for two employees of a Jackson ground delivery contractor who failed to compensate them for work they did off-the-clock from their homes.
Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Douglas Inc. – operating as Douglas Express Delivery – allowed the employees to work off-the-clock without compensation, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. After working their regular shifts and clocking out, the employees would then continue to perform work-related tasks from home such as responding to customers’ phone calls, texts and emails, providing directions to drivers for deliveries and finding alternate drivers when vehicles broke down.
In addition to failing to pay the workers for the off-the-clock work, Douglas Express owed the workers time-and-one half the required rate of pay as the off-the-clock work exceeded 40 hours in a workweek. The division also cited the employer with a recordkeeping violation for not recording the hours employees spent working from home after they left their physical worksite. The division also assessed Douglas Express with an $882 civil penalty for repeat violations. In two previous investigations, Douglas Express paid $157,568 in back wages to 59 employees.
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