Pittsburgh company ordered to pay back wages and penalties to H-2B workers
Ed Bayer Design Group, a landscaping company based out of Franklin Park, Pittsburgh, has been ordered to pay $27,000 in back wages and penalties resulting from a U.S. Department of Labor investigation. The report highlighted violations to H-2B visa time and attendance provisions that govern the federal temporary nonimmigrant worker program. Judge Thomas Burke ordered the business to pay $9,372 in back wages and $17,483 in civil penalties to 11 temporary Mexican workers who served as landscape laborers for the company.
TribLive reported that the landscaping firm also provided the temporary workers with substandard shelter and deducted a housing fee from their overall wages. According to the DOL, it is a violation of federal standards to charge workers for housing that violates state codes. The judge ruled the testimony provided by the temporary laborers upheld the ruling that the boarding violated state regulations.
Wage and Hour Division investigators from the Pittsburgh also disclosed that Ed Bayer Design Group inaccurately indicated the number of workers required, the type of work they would perform and when they would be needed. The H-2B visa program allows American employers to hire guest workers on a temporary basis for nonagricultural employment, but the business must compensate the workers in keeping with federal standards for minimum wage.
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