Former members of the private security company HWA in Seattle have been reimbursed by the U.S. government for back pay the company owed them.
"We all received our final HWA checks today from the U.S. Department of Treasury," said Bill Flynn, shop steward for security employees at Bonneville Dam.
Flynn said a Department of Labor employee told him most of the money came from cash the government withheld from a final contract installment payment to HWA.
Flynn said the payments arrived Wednesday and cover about six weeks worth of pay left uncovered by HWA late in the summer. The unpaid hours were from late July to the first week in September.
The Herald determined that about 200 HWA employees were trapped in the middle when the security company was terminated for not fulfilling terms of the federal security contracts.
The federal sites included a half-dozen dams on the Columbia River system in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and federal facilities that included court buildings and the Social Security Administration in Yakima, Spokane and throughout Eastern Washington.
Flynn said he received $2,620 in back pay, which represented 190 hours of work for HWA.
The Herald could not reach a spokesman for the Department of Labor in Seattle for further comment.
HWA's owners also have not responded to repeated requests for comment since the Herald first reported the story Sept. 23.
-- John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com
Similar stories:
Smith & Nephew to pay $22.2M in US settlements
Smith & Nephew to pay $22.2M in US settlements
British orthopedics maker Smith & Nephew has agreed to pay $22.2 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it bribed doctors employed by the Greek government for more than a decade to win business, U.S. authorities said Monday.
CH2M Hill to pay $1.5M in settlement
CH2M Hill to pay $1.5M in settlement
CH2M Hill Hanford Group has agreed to pay the United States $1.5 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims relating to a federal contract to manage mixed radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear site.
The announcement Thursday by the Department of Justice centers around two former employees of the engineering and construction firm who were responsible for buying supplies for use by CH2M, but between 2003 and 2005 bought from companies owned by their spouses and charged it all to the Department of Energy on federal credit cards.
The more than 200 purchases never were delivered to the firm.
Wok King owners ordered to pay
back wages to workers
Wok King owners ordered to pay
back wages to workers
The former owners of a Kennewick restaurant are being told to pay $531,000 in back wages and damages to underpaid employees, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.
Guang Ri Weng and Zhen Fang Weng and their company Wok King International Buffet Inc. were sued by the department after an investigation showed they had violated minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping portions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
"Wage and Hour Division investigators found that some Wok King International Buffet employees worked an average of 63 hours a week without proper overtime compensation, and some earned wages as low as $1.93 per hour," said Donna Hart, director of the division's Seattle office.
Feds tell BNSF to pay worker
Feds tell BNSF to pay worker
BNSF Railway Co. has been ordered to pay more than $300,000 to an employee by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The BNSF employee from Washington filed a complaint, claiming that she was suspended without pay for 30 days after she notified the company of a work-related injury, said an agency news release.
The administration investigated and found cause to believe that the railroad company retaliated against the worker, violating the Federal Railroad Safety Act's whistleblower protection provisions.
Rape victim sues Richland apartment complex
Rape victim sues Richland apartment complex
The victim of a brutal beating and rape by an employee of a Richland apartment complex has filed a lawsuit against the complex, The Villas at Meadow Springs.
Cody Joseph Kloepper, 33, was sentenced last month to 241/2 years to life in prison for the attack on the complex resident after being found guilty by a jury. He has denied he did it and plans to appeal.
The Villas and the company hired to manage the complex, HSC Real Estate, were negligent in hiring Kloepper, in his supervision and in providing security for residents, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Benton County Superior Court.
Print
Email Story
