U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Results in Slidell, Louisiana Contractor Paying $78,038 to 12 Employees

SLIDELL, LA – After an investigation by the a U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Superior Air Conditioning and Heating LLC – based in Slidell, Louisiana – has paid $78,038 in back wages and fringe benefits to 12 employees for violating requirements of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

Investigators determined that the company – which operates as Superior Services AC, Electric & Plumbing – failed to pay some employees the required prevailing wage, overtime and fringe benefit rates on a project subject to DBRA requirements. The employer inaccurately classified plumbers, sheet metal and electrical workers as laborers. Paying these workers at rates applicable to general laborers rather than those associated with their actual job classifications resulted in Superior Services paying wages lower than those required by law.

“Employees who perform work subject to federal prevailing wage rates must be paid the wages and benefits associated with the proper job classification,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Troy Mouton, in New Orleans, Louisiana. “Misclassifying skilled workers as laborers, and paying those workers less than the applicable prevailing wage rate, is an avoidable violation which creates an unfair advantage for employers who pay lower wages than the law requires.”

Superior Air Conditioning and Heating LLC performed work as a subcontractor on a residential building project in Slidell, Louisiana. Indianapolis, Indiana-based Herman & Kittle Properties Inc. held the prime contract. The DBRA requires contractors and subcontractors performing work on federal and certain federally funded projects to pay workers prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits as determined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor and as included in their contracts.

For more information about the FLSA, DBRA, and other laws enforced by Wage and Hour Division, contact the division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or visit the division’s web site. The division also offers a search tool which allows users to determine if you are owed back wages collected by the division.

The mission of WHD is to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s workforce. WHD enforces federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. WHD also enforces the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act and a number of employment standards and worker protections as provided in several immigration related statutes. Additionally, WHD administers and enforces the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act and other statutes applicable to federal contracts for construction and for the provision of goods and services.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.