The U.S. Department of Labor said in a press release that Halliburton Company will be paying nearly $18.3 million in overtime wages to 1,016 employees nationwide.
The announcement follows the department's Wage and Hour Division investigation on the company as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry in the Southwest and Northeast.
Investigators have found that Halliburton did not pay overtime wages to employees in 28 job positions, according to the press release.
The company has categorized these employees as exempt from overtime pay.
The department also said in the press release that employees working as field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisors, perforating specialists and reliability tech specialists weren't paid after working more than 40 hours in a workweek.
The non-payment of overtime wages was a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said in the press release that they are working hard daily to help employees.
"The Department of Labor takes very seriously its responsibility to ensure workers receive the wages they have earned. This settlement will put millions of dollars where they belong - in the pockets of hardworking people and their families," he said. "Employers who don't pay their employees the wages they have earned don't just hurt their workers, they undercut employers who play by the rules."
Reuters adds that the settlement in this overtime case is one of the largest for the Labor Department in recent years.
Employees that are earning less than $455 weekly are entitled to mandatory overtime pay under the law.
Reuters adds that a spokeswoman from Halliburton said that the company has independently discovered that its workers had been misclassified during an internal audit.
She said that they have begun paying the overtime wage to the workers as required by the law.
Reuters adds that the spokeswoman also said that the company is cooperating with the Labor Department.
"Throughout this process, Halliburton has worked earnestly and cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Labor to equitably resolve this situation," she said.
Betty Campbell, the division's acting southwest regional administrator, said in the press release that they welcome the cooperation of companies, like Halliburton, as they continue to "educate employers about how wage violations hurt their industry and our nation's economy."
