Hilton Employees to Receive More than $715K in Back Wages

October 27 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Hilton Reservations Worldwide LLC has agreed to pay $715,507 in minimum and overtime back wages to 2,645 current and former customer service employees. 

The agreement follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

An investigation by officials from the Wage and Hour Division’s Dallas District Office found that the company failed to pay employees for work performed prior to clocking in at the start of their scheduled shifts, such as booting up a computer, opening programs required to assist customers, and reading pertinent e-mails. Consequently, the employees did not receive at least the minimum wage for this time, as required by the FLSA. Additionally, because the time was not included in employees’ total hours worked, which is used to calculate overtime wages, they did not receive the correct overtime rate of pay. Finally, the employer failed to maintain the required records.

“This company profited by not paying its customer care workers for hours spent conducting pre-shift work,” said Cynthia Watson, Regional Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest, in a press release.

A total of $456,343 is due to 1,443 reservation and customer care workers at the Carrollton, Texas, location; $213,314 is due to 1,012 employees in Tampa, Florida; $30,370 is due to 130 workers in Hazelton, Pennsylvania; and $15,480 is due to 60 workers in Streator, Illinois.

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