A contractor at Fort Lee has paid $130,504 in back wages to workers after an investigation that turned up federal labor law violations.

According to the Labor Department, E.C. Management Service Inc. has paid back wages to 311 employees after an investigation that found infractions of the federal service contract law.

The company provides food services to Department of Defense employees at Fort Lee, the Labor Department said in a statement Wednesday.

"We're pleased that this has been resolved," said Fort Lee spokeswoman Sharon Mulligan, "and that the employees have been adequately compensated for their work."

From April 2006 through March, E.C. Management Service deducted 70 cents an hour from employees' pay as contributions to a pension program, the Labor Department said, but did not give the money to a legitimate pension plan. Instead, the federal agency said, the funds were held in a non-interest-bearing checking account.

The company was also claiming credit of $2.59 per hour for employees' health and welfare benefits, but only paid part of that amount to the service provider, the Labor Department said.

"The company cooperated fully with our investigation and agreed to future compliance and the payment of back wages in full," says Bruce Clark, district director of the Wage and Hour office in Richmond, which conducted the investigation.

"However, this case should remind federal contractors the importance of being in compliance with the federal wage and hour laws they are required to follow."

E.C. Management Service could not be contacted for comment.

The federal Service Contract Act requires workers receive at least the locally prevailing wage rates and benefits from firms holding federal contracts worth more than $2,500.

In the 2007 fiscal year, the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division handled 30,467 compliance actions and recovered a record $220 million in back wages for more than 341,000 employees.

Back-wage collections in fiscal 2007 represent a 67 percent increase over back wages collected in 2001. The number of workers receiving back wages has increased 58 percent since 2001.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.