Georgia Correctional Officers Secure $429,005 In Unpaid Overtime Wages
The Georgia Department of Corrections has agreed to pay $429,005 in unpaid back wages to over 1,250 employees, according to a press release from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The payout comes after a Department of Labor investigation found evidence of widespread violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act at over 40 state-run correctional facilities.
DOL Investigation Finds Widespread Overtime Violations In Georgia Prisons
During the course of investigations, Labor Department officials discovered that the Georgia Department of Corrections failed to pay employees for attending meetings and training session. It also failed to pay employees who worked beyond their scheduled shifts to “cover” for employees who were late.
Both violations led to overtime miscalculations when an employee worked over 40 hours in a work week. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, most American employees become entitled to “premium” overtime wages after working more than 40 hours in a single work week.
Labor Department investigators also found that the Georgia correctional department set an arbitrary limit for overtime hours; workers were not paid for more than 12 overtime hours in a single pay period. The Labor Department also discovered that the Georgia department only paid out compensatory time on a biannual basis, with distributions in May and December. In some cases, that led to overtime violations when correctional employees left their job before the date of payment was reached.
Correctional Facilities
The $429,005 in back wages will go to compensate a total of 1,257 Georgia Department of Corrections employees.
| Corrections Facility | Back Wages |
|---|---|
| Appling Integrated Treatment Facility | $176.42 |
| Arrendale State Prison | $2,316.24 |
| Augusta State Medical Prison | $21,859.13 |
| Augusta Transitional Center | $364.12 |
| Autry State Prison | $26,632.83 |
| Bainbridge Probation Substance Abuse Treatment Center | $2,711.08 |
| Burruss Correctional Training Center | $1,642.05 |
| Calhoun State Prison | $1,368.30 |
| Class T-81 (Basic Correction Training Class) | $8,627.11 |
| Coastal State Prison | $40,445.30 |
| Columbus Transitional Center | $579.97 |
| Dodge State Prison | $15,718.09 |
| Dooly State Prison | $4,135.14 |
| Emanuel Probation Detention Center | $4,104.45 |
| Emanuel Women’s Facility | $1,713.40 |
| Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison | $4,137.65 |
| Georgia State Prison | $24,736.74 |
| Hancock State Prison | $1,256.22 |
| Hays State Prison | $10,843.08 |
| Johnson State Prison | $15,810.61 |
| Lee State Prison | $3,944.77 |
| Long State Prison | $4,135.91 |
| Macon State Prison | $435.55 |
| McEver Probation Detention Center | $129 |
| Montgomery State Prison | $3,183 |
| Paulding Probation Detention Center | $5,665.74 |
| Phillips State Prison | $16,976.20 |
| Pulaski State Prison | $6,538.55 |
| Robert L. Patten Probation Detention Center | $807 |
| Rogers State Prison | $20,772.45 |
| Smith State Prison | $75,872.52 |
| Telfair State Prison | $7,235.55 |
| Treutlen Probation Detention Center | $2,007.01 |
| Valdosta State Prison | $18,438.24 |
| Valdosta Transitional Center | $83.87 |
| Walker State Prison | $729.44 |
| Ware State Prison | $40,382.29 |
| Washington State Prison | $2,045.76 |
| West Central Integrated Treatment Facility | $988.89 |
| Whitworth Women’s Facility | $1,966.95 |
| Wilcox State Prison | $14,505.17 |
| Women’s Probation Detention Center and Smith Transition Center | $4,316.12 |
“Georgia Department of Corrections’ employees perform a difficult, dangerous, and indispensable job that is unquestionably vital to the safety of the community,” says Eric Williams, Wage and Hour Division District Director in Atlanta. “Their receipt of the wages they are entitled to under the law is imperative. We encourage all employers to make use of the many tools we offer to learn about their responsibilities and comply with the law.”
