The Department of Labor (DOL) recently accused ManTech International Corporation and two subcontractors of unlawfully withholding over $1.1 million in back pay and benefits from 236 employees.
The allegations stem from a DOL investigation to determine whether the companies were in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Service Contract Act (SCA), and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA).
The FLSA contains the federal minimum wage and overtime provisions. Unless exempt, employees covered by the FLSA must receive overtime compensation for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate of at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay. In the investigation, the DOL determined that the companies not only paid employees rates and benefits below the minimum wage, but also failed to pay time-and-a-half for all overtime hours over 40 worked in one week.
Founded in 1968, ManTech describes itself as “a multi-billion-dollar public company that provides the innovation, adaptability, and critical thinking our government needs for success in defense, intelligence, law enforcement, science, administration, health, and other fields—throughout the nation and in many countries around the world.” The other two companies are also federal government defense contractors. Kenneth Stripling, the DOL’s Wage & Hour Division Director in Birmingham, criticized ManTech’s unlawful wage policies in a press statement, “Not only does this practice undercut what the workers involved are legally owed, it results in unfair competition for contractors who play by the rules.”
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