Accused of violating labor law, company must pay back wages to employees

A federal judge has ordered the payment of $550,000 in back pay and damages to more than 600 employees of a Las Vegas construction company that withheld full wages from its workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor, 614 Colvin Construction employees were “taken advantage of” the company by failing to pay its employees overtime pay required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In a consent decree or court-approved settlement, the parties agreed that Colvin Construction would change its payroll practices by accurately recording the total number of hours worked by employees and allowing employees to record their own individual hours worked.

The ruling, handed down Friday by U.S. District Judge James Mahan, requires the company to pay a $275,000 liquidated damages, a total of $275,000 in overtime pay and a $10,000 fine, and prohibits the company from violating the law in the future.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division of Colvin Construction in Las Vegas found that although employees often worked about 55 hours per week, they did not receive the required overtime pay of one and a half times their regular wages.

The U.S. Department of Labor's lawsuit also alleges that the company instructed employees to enter fewer hours on their timesheets than they actually worked, and that if the employees wanted to be paid for that workweek, they would have had to sign false timesheets, the lawsuit says.

“The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to defending construction workers' right to receive their full wages and will use all available means to obtain justice,” Gene Ramos, district director of the Division of Wage and Hour, said in a statement.

“Employers cannot avoid paying overtime by knowingly ignoring the number of hours their employees work. The results of our investigation have forced this employer to comply with the regulations, create a level playing field and recover workers' wages,” he said.

Attempts to reach the defendants, including Michael Colvin, owner of Colvin Construction, were unsuccessful. The company provides drywall and plastering services, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Contact Estelle Atkinson at [email protected]. Follow @estellelilym on X and @estelleatkinsonreports on Instagram.