Border Warehouse Company to Pay $134,922 in Back Wages To Employees After U.S. Department of Labor Finds Minimum Wage, Overtime Violations

SAN DIEGO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has reached a settlement with G-Global – a border warehousing company in Otay Mesa, California – in which the employer will pay 61 Mexican national employees $124,465 after investigators found the company paid the workers below minimum wage in pesos, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

G-Global will pay 59 employees an additional $10,456 for overtime violations at its U.S. facility that warehouses materials before their transport across the border for use in Mexico. The violations result from the employer’s practice of paying workers flat salaries regardless of the number of hours they work per week. When those salaries fail to cover minimum wage for the hours worked, or when employees work more than 40 hours and the employer fails to pay overtime, violations result. Investigators also cited recordkeeping violations when the employer failed to provide pay or time records for the 61 employees working at the facility.

The investigation kicks off a Wage and Hour Division effort to examine compliance at similar operations along the border after determining, through outreach events and in interviews with employees in the past year that G-Global’s practices appear to be widespread in the industry. As part of this effort, Wage and Hour Division officials recently staffed a virtual informational booth and provided technical assistance on the Department’s Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program at MexPort Trade Show, a major industry event.

“We recommend other warehouse employers along the border work with us to ensure employees are paid at least the minimum wage for the hours they work at facilities in the United States,” said Wage and Hour District Regional Director Ruben Rosalez, in San Francisco, California. “We encourage them to come forward and to participate in our PAID program to get themselves into compliance, while avoiding the expenses that could arise through litigation. We also urge employees to use our Workers Owed Wages online tool to see if the Wage and Hour Division is holding money due to them as a result of this case or any other of the agency’s investigations.”

The Department offers numerous resources to ensure employers have the tools they need to understand their responsibilities and to comply with federal law, such as online videos, confidential calls, or in-person visits to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Employers that discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. Information is also available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.

WHD’s mission 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.