Charlotte, North Carolina, Transportation Company Pays Back Wages To Employee Instructed to Self-Quarantine Due to Coronavirus Concerns

CHARLOTTE, NC – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), a Charlotte, North Carolina, branch of Premier Transportation & Warehousing Inc. – a trucking and warehousing service based in Long Beach, California – has paid $3,116 in back wages after failing to provide an employee two weeks of paid sick leave after the worker received instructions from a healthcare provider to self-quarantine due to coronavirus concerns.

WHD investigators determined Premier Transportation and Warehousing violated the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Once notified of its obligations by WHD, the employer paid the back wages.

“The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides vital relief and offers affected workers peace of mind knowing they are entitled to paid sick leave as they navigate the coronavirus pandemic,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta, Georgia. “The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is working vigorously to educate employers about their obligations under this new law. We encourage employers to contact us to learn how they can avoid violations like the one found in this case.”

The FFCRA helps the U.S. combat and defeat the workplace effects of the coronavirus by giving tax credits to American businesses with fewer than 500 employees either to provide employees with paid leave for the employee’s own health needs or to care for family members. Please visit WHD’s “Quick Benefits Tips” for information about how much leave workers may qualify to use, and the wages employers must pay.  The law enables employers to provide paid leave reimbursed by tax credits, while at the same time ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the virus.

WHD continues to provide updated information on its website and through extensive outreach efforts to ensure that workers and employers have the information they need about the benefits and protections of this new law. The agency also provides additional information on common issues employers and employees face when responding to the coronavirus and its effects on wages and hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act and on job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic.

For more information about the laws enforced by WHD, call 866-4US-WAGE, or visit www.dol.gov/agencies/whd.

For further information about the coronavirus, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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.