Hutto Excavation Company Pays Back Wages to Employee After Denying Emergency Paid Sick Leave to Self-Quarantine

HUTTO, TX – ProDirt Services LLC – based in Hutto, Texas – has paid $1,680 in back wages for denying emergency paid sick leave to an employee who was instructed to self-quarantine by a healthcare provider for coronavirus-related reasons.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found that ProDirt Services violated Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) when the employer denied paid sick leave to an employee who had to quarantine to comply with a healthcare provider’s recommendation when a family member tested positive for the virus.

After WHD contacted ProDirt Services LLC, the employer agreed to pay the back wages and comply with the FFCRA’s requirements in the future.

“The outcome of this investigation reminds all employers to review their responsibilities under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicole Sellers in Austin, Texas. “We encourage employers and employees to call us for assistance to learn the requirements under the new law and to use our educational online tools to avoid violations like those 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 the agency’s 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. Learn more about the laws enforced by WHD online, or call 866-4US-WAGE.

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.