A Panama City, Florida, staffing firm paid $80,268 in back wages and liquidated damages after incidents of misclassifying employees as independent contractors, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Wage and Hour Division announced Tuesday.
The division reported the company, Always Reliable Management Services Inc., paid workers straight time for all hours worked and failed to pay overtime as a result of the misclassification.
Always Reliable Management Services provides housekeeping, front desk and maintenance workers to Panama City hotels. The incident involved 108 workers, according to the division.
“Employers must ensure they pay their workers their rightfully earned wages under the law,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Wildalí De Jesús in Orlando, Florida. “In an industry suffering from a nearly 7% monthly quit rate, employers who pay workers less than they have earned can quickly find themselves struggling to maintain the workforce needed to stay in business.”