Roofing Firm Agrees to Pay $21,985 in Overtime Wages to 43 Employees

A commercial roofing company, All-County Roofing Inc., agreed in federal court to pay 43 employees $21,985 in unpaid overtime.

The company, which does business under the name Young’s Roofing Co., faced possible fines had it not agreed to forgo a civil trial, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday.

The company then agreed in federal district court in Los Angeles to reimburse the employees for the overtime, which the Labor Department said should have been paid during a two-year period ending in July, 1991.

The company said Thursday that its failure to pay overtime was a mistake and was not deliberate.

A company owner who declined to be identified said he thought he was operating under state law--which he said does not require overtime for this type of situation--when he did some work at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station several years ago.

The owner said he didn’t realize that as a federal facility, however, the base comes under federal law and requires overtime pay for work done there.

Under federal law, employees who work overtime are supposed to get time and a half for every hour worked in excess of 40 in a week.

The Labor Department launched an investigation of the company’s overtime pay practices after a complaint from a former employee.

In some instances, 43 roofing company employees who worked overtime were paid only the standard hourly rate, according to Labor Department investigators from the San Diego district office of the Wage and Hour Division.