US Department of Labor debars North Carolina contractor from bidding on federal contracts after investigation finds wage violations at EPA cafeteria

DURHAM, NC – Federal wage laws ensure that government contractors fulfill their legal obligations, among them paying required wage rates and fringe benefits to workers employed with federal funds to provide services to the government. When contractors violate these laws, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division acts.

In April 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Perkins Management Services Co. a contract to provide food service staffing at the agency’s cafeteria on the Research Triangle Park campus in Durham.

After a recent investigation, an Administrative Law Judge issued an order to debar Perkins Management Services Co., a Charlotte food service staffing provider, for failing to meet its obligations to workers at an EPA cafeteria in Durham. The action prevents the employer from bidding on federal contracts for 3 years because of its violations of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards and the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Acts.

Perkins Management Services will also pay $27,687 in back wages to 14 workers to resolve violations of wage requirements found by Wage and Hour Division investigators.

Investigators determined that Perkins Management violated the SCA by paying two cooks hourly wage rates lower than the prevailing wage rates required for their occupations. During the first months of the contract, the employer also failed to pay the cooks required fringe benefits.

Investigators also found Perkins Management failed to provide paid vacation to all eligible workers on the contract, and paid overtime at rates lower than those the law requires.

“Prevailing wage standards provide a safety net of fair wages to workers, their families and communities, and enable local contractors and subcontractors to compete on a level playing field,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Richard Blaylock in Raleigh, North Carolina. “Taxpayers have a right to expect that federal contractors – who are paid with tax dollars – will comply with the law, and the Labor Department will not allow companies to abuse that trust.”

For more information about the laws enforced by the division, contact the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.