The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage & Hour Division ("W&H") recovered nearly $16 million in back wages and restored more than $24,700 paid sick leave hours to more than 2,800 workers of 62 subcontractors on Operation Allies Welcome construction at Joint Air Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, New Jersey. Managed by the Department of Defense, the project involved contractors from 17 states and Puerto Rico between July 2021 and February 2022.
After 75 investigations that included Jupiter, Florida-based Disaster Management Group, LLC ("DMG"), one of the project's general contractors, and 61 subcontractors, W&H found that DMG and its subcontractors violated federal law, including the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and Executive Order 13706, by failing to:
pay minimum prevailing wage rates to workers
pay fringe benefits
pay proper overtime
offer required paid sick leave under E.O. 13706
properly classify workers as employees in their appropriate trades according to the work they performed
maintain required records, including segregating any benefits that may have been paid from wages
provide required notices to workers informing them of their rights under federal law
Wages recovered from individual subs range from less than $300 to more than $3.8 million.
"Government contractors must ensure their workers are paid the required wages and fringe benefits they have rightfully earned," said W&H Administrator Jessica Looman.
See W&H's January 29, 2024 news release here.