The Department of Labor (DOL) is actively looking into Georgia’s hotel industry to ensure that employees are paid fair wages as outlined by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. The hotel industry often uses subcontracting, franchising and third-party management employment arrangements that may sometimes muddy the employer-worker relationship. To date, investigators have found more than $280K in back wages for more than 400 workers throughout the state.
If you’re not in the hotel industry, you shouldn’t assume that this type of investigation won’t happen to you and your industry. The DOL will turn their attention to other segments where the misclassification of workers could be occurring, specifically where employees are classified as independent contractors. Misclassified employees are often denied access to benefits and protections that they are entitled to such as overtime and FMLA. Once the DOL checks out the hotel industry, they could check in with you next.