Securitas Pays Employees $176,810 in Back Wages After U.S. Department of Labor Finds Violations at Four Hawaiian Airports

HONOLULU, HI – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), a branch office of Securitas Security Services USA Inc. – a security services company based in Anaheim, California – has paid $176,810 in back wages to 226 employees for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) overtime and recordkeeping requirements at four Hawaiian airports. The employer has also paid $22,000 in penalties.

WHD investigators found Securitas Security Services USA Inc. – contracted to provide security services at the airports – made automatic deductions from employees’ recorded work time for unpaid meal breaks despite frequent interruptions requiring the employees to return to duty. When employees return to work and are not completely relieved of duty during a meal break, employers must pay for interrupted breaks as work time. Investigators also found the employer failed to keep accurate records reflecting interrupted breaks, resulting in FLSA recordkeeping violations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that employers pay workers all the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Terence Trotter in Honolulu, Hawaii. “We encourage other employers to use the results of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own pay practices to ensure they comply with the law, and avoid violations like those found in this case.” 

WHD found FLSA violations at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport in Keahole, Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Lihue Airport on Kauai and Kahului Airport on Maui.

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 and confidential calls 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 who 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.

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.

 ###