A recent Department of Labor investigation uncovered that a Dallas-based printing company was liable to its employees for nearly $100,000 in overtime back wages due to the way in which the company was calculating its employees’ working hours. Instead of totaling all the hours each employee worked in their various capacities, the company was separately paying each employee according to the hours they logged on two different time clocks. As a result of these findings, the Department of Labor ordered the company to pay the amount in back wages as well as $26,000 in civil penalties.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, any employees not exempt from overtime pay are entitled to receive 1.5 times their regular wage for working more than 40 hours per week for the same employer. Even if an employee works in two or more capacities for the employer, the employee’s total hours worked in each capacity must be combined for the purposes of overtime wage laws.