Dorsey Tire Co. will pay $79,000 in back wages after a U.S. Department of Labor Investigation found employers failed to calculate overtime hours properly by not including time spent on after-hour service calls. 

In a release Jan. 24, Atlanta Wage and Hour Division Regional Administrator Juan Coria said other employers should use the outcome of these investigations as an opportunity to review the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and ensure their pay practices comply with the law. 

“Employers must calculate and pay proper overtime rates, which can include earned bonuses or commissions, for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week,” Coria said in the release. “Not including all hours of work and commissions earned in overtime calculations denies workers the wages they have legally earned.”

This comes after the Wage and Hour Division conducted investigations at three repair shop locations.

According to the release, alongside the overtime violations, Dorsey did not include certain commission payments when calculating overtime pay due to tire technicians and sales employees. This resulted in lower overtime rates paid to workers than required by law. 

Current laws state overtime pay must be calculated at a rate of at least 1.5 times the employees’ regular hourly rate, the release states. Most covered, non-exempt workers have a maximum work week of 40 hours, with any additional hours counting as overtime.