U.S. Department of Labor Investigation Recovers Back Wages For 52 Employees of Blytheville, Arkansas HVAC Company

LITTLE ROCK, AR – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), D&L Inc. – a heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration company based in Blytheville, Arkansas – has paid $40,371 in back wages to 52 employees working out of its Blytheville, and Darlington, South Carolina, locations for violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

WHD investigators determined that D&L Inc. – doing business as D&L Inc. HVAC & Sheet Metal – failed to count the time employees spent driving between job sites as work time when determining when overtime was due. Instead, the employer recorded drive time separately and paid for it at straight time rates, regardless of the total number of hours employees worked. By doing so, the employer failed to pay overtime when those hours occurred in workweeks of more than 40 hours.  

D&L Inc. paid back wages to 36 employees in Blytheville and 16 in South Carolina.

“The U.S. Department of Labor continues to ensure that employees are paid the wages they have legally earned, and that employers comply with the law and compete on a level playing field,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Jamie Benefiel, in Columbia, South Carolina.

Wage and Hour Division District Director Hanz Grünauer, in Little Rock, Arkansas, added, “We encourage all employers and employees to contact us for assistance in understanding their obligations and rights under the law. Overtime violations like those found in this case can be avoided.”

Employers that discover overtime or minimum wage violations may self-report and resolve those violations without litigation through the PAID program. For more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division, contact the toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at www.dol.gov/agencies/whd including a search tool for workers who may be owed back wages collected by the division.

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 paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, 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.