Federal investigators find Texas residential builder owed $163K in overtime to employees

FRISCO, TX – A Frisco residential builder received a hefty bill for unpaid overtime wages following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.  

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Northland Development of Texas Inc. paid their employees at straight time instead of time and one-half their rate of pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. In addition, the employer deducted more than the actual time taken for lunch, underreporting overtime worked. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to record and pay all hours of work accurately, and to pay overtime at one and one-half employee’s rate of pay for hours in excess of 40 in a workweek.

The division’s investigation recovered $163,648 in back wages owed to 47 workers.

“Too often, the Wage and Hour Division encounters employers who underreport employees hours of work and undercut competitors by failing to pay full wages as the law requires, “said Wage & Hour Division Director Jesus A. Valdez in Dallas. “In the end, these violations proved very costly. We encourage employers with questions about overtime or other wage requirements to use our online tools or contact us for confidential compliance assistance.”

In fiscal year 2021, the department’s Wage and Hour Division completed more than 3,000 construction industry investigations and retrieved $36 million in back wages for more than 21,000 workers.

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, including a search tool to use 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.