The Department of Labor reports that Honghua America, which employs crane operators and roughnecks in Houston, paid nearly $700,000 in fines for mislabeling employees as “independent contractors” and failing to pay them overtime for weeks that stretched as long as 80 hours: “The misclassification of employees as independent contractors is a serious threat to both workers, who are entitled to good and safe jobs, and to employers who obey the law and are undercut when others use illegal practices” said Cynthia Watson, the Wage and Hour Division’s regional administrator for the Southwest. “The department is committed to remedying employee misclassification, which is a problem we commonly come across in the oil and gas industry. It often results in employees being denied their proper wages.” Honghua, one of 10 subsidiaries of Honghua Group Limited, a large-scale equipment manufacturer and drilling service provider, specializes in research, design, manufacture and set-assembly of drilling rigs, offshore engineering and oil and gas exploration and production equipment. It is the biggest exporter of drilling rigs in China, and one of the largest land drilling rig manufacturers in the world. The company has agreed to fully comply with the FLSA in the future. Back wages have been paid in full. Read more: dol.gov/whd/media/press/whdpressVB3.asp?pressdoc=Southwest/20130603.xml
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 22:06:25 +0000
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