The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced the recovery of nearly $85,000 in owed wages for 32 mobile home transportation drivers and laborers who were misclassified as independent contractors. The investigation focused on Paredes Inc., operating as Superior Service, a mobile home transportation company based in Maxwell, Texas.
According to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the drivers and laborers were actually employees, not independent contractors as classified by Paredes Inc. The division found that the company violated federal law by failing to pay the required overtime wages for hours worked over 40 per week and by not maintaining federally mandated records.
Acting District Director Rosalinda Huffman in Austin, Texas, highlighted the impact of misclassifying employees, stating, “Misclassifying employees as independent contractors deprives workers of their full wages, benefits, and employment protections and allows their employers to gain an unfair advantage over law-abiding competitors.”
The Department of Labor's effort to recover the owed wages resulted in a total of $84,740 being returned to the affected workers. This case serves as a reminder of the importance of proper classification of workers and adherence to labor laws to ensure fair treatment and compensation for all employees.
