News Release
Indianapolis security company found violating federal overtime wage laws for third time since 2018; pays $28K in back wages, damages to 31 workers
INDIANAPOLIS – For the third time in five years, federal investigators found an Indianapolis security company violated federal wage laws by failing to pay guards overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.
The U.S. Department of Labor assessed Protection Plus Inc. $27,597 in civil money penalties for its repeat and willful violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found 31 security professionals who are owed $28,334 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages.
“Protection Plus continues to defy federal overtime wage laws, despite being found in violation in both 2018 and 2022 for the same practice. Abiding by federal wage laws in not optional,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Aaron Loomis in Indianapolis. “The Department of Labor will continue to hold this company and its owner, Raymond Stanley, accountable for paying their workers the wages they have rightfully earned.”
Protection Plus provides security professionals who patrol Indianapolis International Airport’s grounds, guard local businesses and provide traffic control in the area.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that from Jan. 8, 2021 to Nov. 18, 2022, Protection Plus did not pay required overtime rates to some employees. When the firm did pay overtime, they failed to accurately compute overtime when employees received two or more rates of pay for different jobs performed in the same work week. Protection Plus also failed to maintain accurate payroll records.
In June 2022, a consent judgment entered in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana required Protection Plus Inc. and Stanley to pay $185,459 in wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 215 workers for similar violations of the FLSA. The employer also paid a civil money penalty of $69,540 for knowingly violating federal wage laws.
In 2018, the company paid 158 workers $98,949 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages. They also paid $25,000 in civil money penalties for the willful nature of their violations.
“The guard services industry remains in the top 20 of the division’s high violation industries,” Loomis continued. “Employers must understand that illegal wage practices may damage their ability to retain and recruit the workers required for their operations.”
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 and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from.
Download the agency’s Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – also available in Spanish – to ensure accurate hours and pay.
