A U.S.-based manufacturer with a facility in Tijuana, Mexico, has been made to pay more than $465,000 for multiple violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor announced March 23.
“This case reflects an alarming trend where employers send employees across the border to work in the U.S. and then deny them the rights and protections of all U.S. workers,” Min Park-Chung, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division district director in San Diego, said in the news release.
Investigators with the WHD determined Providien Injection Molding Inc. violated the FLSA by incorrectly classifying workers as trainees for nearly 16 months; paid a flat weekly salary in Mexican pesos to technicians who traveled from the company's Tijuana facility to work in the U.S.; paid technicians as little as $3.29 per hour; did not pay overtime to workers who averaged 45 hours worked per pay week; and failed to keep accurate employment records, the news release reports.
Mexico-based technicians for U.S.-based medical-devices manufacturer with a facility in Tijuana, were denied overtime pay and other labor rights under the FLSA, the DOL reports.
| Capt. David J. Murphy/U.S. Air Force/Wikimedia Commons
The DOL recovered $465,993 in back wages and liquidated damages for 44 employees: $217,402 in overtime back wages, $15,594 in minimum wages owed to 13 workers by the employer, and $232,996 in liquidated damages for all 44 affected workers, according to the news release. Providien was also assigned a $25,935 civil penalty "for the willful nature of its violations," the news release states.
Providien Injection Molding manufactures medical devices and components, the DOL reports. The company is a subsidiary of Carlisle Companies Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., with facilities in San Diego and Sylmar, Calif., and Tijuana, Mexico.
The DOL is working with the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego to ensure that Mexican nationals in the region are aware of their labor rights as U.S. workers.
The division enforces the law regardless of where a worker is from and can speak confidentially with callers in more than 200 languages. Contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) for more information about the FLSA and other laws enforced by the division.
“If you work in California, or anywhere in the U.S., and your employer is paying you less than the federal minimum wage – regardless of the currency they use – contact the Wage and Hour Division,” Min said in the release.
