U.S. Department of Labor Recovers $125,516 in Back Wages for Employees of Louisiana Correctional Center

TULLOS, LA – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), LaSalle Corrections – based in Ruston, Louisiana – has paid $125,516 in unpaid fringe benefits to 122 employees to resolve violations of the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA).

WHD investigators found that LaSalle Corrections failed to provide required fringe benefits to employees at its facility in Tullos, Louisiana, where they performed work on the employer’s contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Investigators determined that the employer failed to make contributions to health and benefit plans on behalf of employees as required by law from August 2019 through October 2019.  

“Workers who perform services on contracts for the federal government must receive all of the wages and benefits they are due, consistent with the terms of their employer's contract with the government,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Troy Mouton, in New Orleans, Louisiana. “Other federal contractors should use the outcome of this investigation as an opportunity to review their own pay practices and ensure they comply with the law to avoid violations like those found in this case.” 

LaSalle Corrections currently manages 18 facilities nationwide with a total capacity of more than 13,000 inmates.

The McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act 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 and confidential calls.

For more information about the SCA and other laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact the division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Information is also available at http://www.dol.gov/whd including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by 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 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.