US Department of Labor finds New Hampshire roofing company improperly classified, shortchanged foreign temporary workers

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $167,101 in back wages for 20 workers for a Keene roofing contractor that paid incorrect wages and improper overtime to foreign temporary workers employed through the federal H-2B nonimmigrant program.

The Wage and Hour Division determined that The Melanson Company, a Tecta America Company LLC improperly classified workers as roofer helpers when, in fact, they were doing roofing work, a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s H-2B provisions. By doing so, the employer failed to pay correct prevailing wages, which led to additional violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act when the Keene contractor calculated overtime wages based on the incorrect wage rate.

The recovery is part of a settlement between the division and The Melanson Company that required the employer to pay $154,596 in H-2B back wages to the workers classified improperly and $12,505 in overtime wages owed to the affected workers. The company also paid $28,829 in H-2B civil money penalties. The department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges entered the settlement as consent findings.

“The Melanson Company’s illegal employment practices shortchanged workers’ wages and gave the company an unfair advantage over their competitors who pay H-2B nonimmigrant workers properly,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring H-2B workers receive the wages they are owed and that employers who use the H-2B program employ workers in the job classifications for which they petitioned.”

The H-2B program permits employers to temporarily hire nonimmigrant workers to perform nonagricultural labor or services in the U.S. The division may seek remedies such as wage payments and civil money penalties against employers who violate certain H-2B provisions.

The Melanson Company provides construction services, including roofing, suspended ceilings, drywall and HVAC duct work for customers in southern Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York and Vermont.

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. Employers and workers can call division staff confidentially with questions, regardless of immigration status, and the division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages through the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Download the agency’s free Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices, available in English and Spanish, to help track work hours and pay.