News Release
US Department of Labor recovers $150K in wages for 46 workers after investigation into pay practices of JVA Insulation of Houston
HOUSTON – With Houston-area home sales setting records, insulation installers are working hard to meet demand and endure hard, strenuous labor and discomfort caused by contact with insulation materials. For 46 workers at JVA Insulation Inc., the work felt a bit harder because their employer failed to pay them all their legally earned wages.
A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation determined that JVA Insulation violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when the company:
- Failed to pay overtime to workers when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Instead, the employer paid workers on a per-square foot basis, regardless of the number of hours they worked per week.
- Reduced an employee’s pay below the federal minimum wage with illegal deductions for lost or broken tools.
- Failed to maintain accurate records of employees’ hours of work.
JVA Insulation will pay $150,080 in back wages to 46 workers.
“These essential workers overcome heat and many other factors to do their jobs and their employer has an obligation to pay them fairly for the wages they legally earned,” said Wage and Hour District Director Robin Mallett in Houston. “The Wage and Hour Division offers employers and workers many resources for understanding compliance issues, and will speak confidentially to anyone with questions. We will also hold employers who fail to comply with the law accountable when they shortchange employees for the work performed.”
For more information about the FLSA and other 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, and use its search tool if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.
Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of their immigration status – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.
