HOUSTON — In one of the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years for the U.S. Department of Labor, oil and gas service provider, Halliburton, has agreed to pay $18,293,557 to 1,016 employees nationwide. The department's Wage and Hour Division investigated Halliburton as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry in the Southwest and Northeast.

Employer: Bliss Roofing Inc.

Site: 14430 S.E. 98th Court, Clackamas, Oregon 97015

Employer name: Millennium Natural Health Products Inc.

Investigation site: 10575 NW 37th Terrace, Miami, Florida 33178

Employer name: Fiesta Mexicana LLC, Fiesta Mexicana Restaurante

Investigation site: 957 Town Centre Blvd, Clayton, North Carolina 27520

Type of Action: Family Medical Leave Act Consent Judgment

Names of Defendants: Management Registry, Inc. doing business as Malone Staffing

DALLAS — Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division made sure to keep their eyes on the back door when they showed up at Hiep Thai Markets' stores in Garland and Arlington. The business, a repeat violator of federal wage and hour laws, had sent workers out the rear exit previously to keep them from speaking to agents during two prior investigations. Cheating workers out of wages and frustrating investigators seems to be their business practice.

Employer: Adair County, Oklahoma.

BOSTON — Fruit and vegetable wholesaler Snipped Fresh Produce Inc. had employees cut, weigh and package vegetables for $8 per hour, and many worked more than 40 hours per week for no overtime pay.

SALT LAKE CITY — For most children, fall begins a new school year full of possibilities to learn and prepare for their lives ahead and future jobs. Unfortunately, for hundreds of children in southern Utah and northern Arizona, the season is a time for hard work harvesting pecans by hand for commercial sale.

Employer Name: RSCR West Virginia Inc., doing business as Community Alternatives WV, is a subsidiary of ResCare Inc. that provides home health care for individuals with disabilities throughout West Virginia.

Investigation Site: 305 Water Street, Stonewood, West Virginia, 26301 and locations in Clarksburg, Keyser, Parkersburg, Buckhannon, Huntington, and Charleston, West Virginia.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and the State of Hawaii's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit

Name of Defendant: Confidential Services Inc., Beverlee Sokol, and Katrina Levy Zidel

Date of Action: Aug. 19, 2015

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Consent Judgment

Names of Defendants: Krenek Motors Inc., d/b/a Krenek RV and Scott Krenek

Resolution: A judge has ordered Krenek RV and its owner, Scott Krenek, to pay two recreational vehicle technicians a total of $11,478 in unpaid overtime compensation and damages.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor, Vermont Department of Labor

Employer name: Charanda of Concord Inc. and Charanda, Inc., doing business as Charanda Mexican Grill & Cantina

Investigation site: 8629 Concord Mills Boulevard, Concord, North Carolina 28027 and 1841 E. Broad Street, Statesville, North Carolina 28625

Employer: DDS Conveyor, Inc.

Site: 3265 West Post Road, Las Vegas, Nevada 89118

US Department of Labor finds General Atomics violated federal wage requirement

SAN DIEGO — Federal law requires government contractors to pay their workers the prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits in their geographic area. On the books for half a century, the law ensures that companies do not make their services less costly at the expense of their workers, or drive down wages for other area workers.

Employer: Z-Best Medical Transportation, LLC

Site: 1505 N. Alma School Rd., Chandler, Arizona 85224

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit

Name of Defendant: Cathedral Buffet Inc., and Ernest Angley, 2690 State Road, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

SAN FRANCISCO — Two recent and very significant legal victories for California workers send a strong message to employers nationwide: if you misclassify your employees, you will face the consequences.