Guam Janitorial and Ground Maintenance Services Company to Pay Back Wages, Benefits and Penalties after U.S. Department of Labor Investigation

DEDEDO, GUAM – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), a janitorial and ground maintenance services company and federal contractor in Guam will pay $22,648 to workers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA).

WHD investigators found that JJ Global Services violated FLSA minimum wage and overtime requirements when it failed to pay employees for all the hours that they worked. The employer required grounds maintenance workers to arrive at the firm’s shop to attend morning safety meetings and to test their equipment prior to heading to the first job site each day. Workers were also required to return to the shop at the end of the day to clean and store equipment. JJ Global neither recorded nor paid workers for this time.

JJ Global Services violated prevailing wage requirements of the SCA when it failed to pay janitorial and grounds maintenance workers required prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits when they performed work on the employer’s contract with the Federal Aviation Administration to care for local facilities.  

The employer will pay a civil money penalty of $4,500 for the repeat nature of the FLSA violations, having been found in violation of the same requirements in previous WHD investigations.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to ensuring that workers get paid all the wages they have legally earned, including those earned for any work performed before and after their scheduled shifts,” said Wage and Hour District Director Terence Trotter, in Honolulu, Hawaii. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue to enforce the law so all employers abide by the same rules, including those doing business with federal government agencies. We encourage other employers to use the results of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own pay practices, and to avoid violations like those found in this case.” 

The SCA requires contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality, or the rates, including prospective increases, contained in a predecessor contractor's collective bargaining agreement.

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 or confidential calls to local WHD offices.

For more information about the FLSA, SCA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the Division’s 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 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.