US automotive organisation Colony Tire has been ordered to pay 248 employees $152,109 (£112,978) in back wages by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD).
The organisation was found to have not included employees’ commissions in their regular rates of pay when calculating their overtime hours. By excluding those amounts, the overtime rates paid by the employer were lower than those required by law. WHD found that this was the case across 25 establishments throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.
Jamie Benefiel, director at WHD in Columbia, South Carolina, said: “Employers must base overtime payments on employees’ regular rates of pay, which can include earned bonuses or commissions. Paying overtime simply on workers’ base hourly rates denies them wages they have legally earned.
“We encourage employers to reach out to us with questions and to use the wide variety of tools we offer to ensure they clearly understand their responsibilities. We appreciate this employer’s cooperation in resolving these issues quickly.”
Colony Tire was unavailable to comment at the time of publication.