The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $167,101 in back wages for 20 workers employed by a Keene roofing contractor, The Melanson Company, a Tecta America Company LLC. The company was found to have paid incorrect wages and improper overtime to foreign temporary workers under the federal H-2B nonimmigrant program.
The Wage and Hour Division determined that The Melanson Company improperly classified these workers as roofer helpers when they were performing actual roofing work. This misclassification violated the Immigration and Nationality Act’s H-2B provisions, leading to incorrect prevailing wage payments and further violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act regarding overtime wages.
As part of a settlement with the division, The Melanson Company agreed to pay $154,596 in H-2B back wages and $12,505 in overtime wages owed to the affected workers. Additionally, the company paid $28,829 in H-2B civil money penalties. The department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges entered the settlement as consent findings.
“The Melanson Company’s illegal employment practices shortchanged workers’ wages and gave the company an unfair advantage over their competitors who pay H-2B nonimmigrant workers properly,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Steven McKinney in Manchester, New Hampshire. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to ensuring H-2B workers receive the wages they are owed and that employers who use the H-2B program employ workers in the job classifications for which they petitioned.”
The H-2B program allows employers to temporarily hire nonimmigrant workers for nonagricultural labor or services in the U.S. Remedies such as wage payments and civil money penalties may be sought against employers who violate certain H-2B provisions.
The Melanson Company provides construction services including roofing, suspended ceilings, drywall, and HVAC duct work across southern Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, eastern New York, and Vermont.
For more information about the Wage and Hour Division or if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division, a search tool is available on their website. Employers and workers can confidentially contact division staff with questions regardless of immigration status via a toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Assistance is available in more than 200 languages. Additionally, a free Timesheet App for Android and iOS devices is available in English and Spanish to help track work hours and pay.
