A trucking company is being forced to pay $51,000 back to employees it denied overtime pay. 

Ard Trucking Company in Timmonsville, South Carolina will pay 11 workers more than $51,000 after paying “straight-time rates for all hours worked, including overtime hours.” Of the $51,000 paid, one worker was awarded over $15,000. 

Investigators with the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division say that the company was in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act when it failed to pay the time-and-a-half rate for overtime hours. The company also failed to keep a record of work hours for some employees, and even required one employee to pay for uniforms when they resigned from the company, which caused the worker’s average hourly wage to fall below the minimum wage standard. 

“Not paying workers their full and legally earned wages is unethical and illegal,” said Jamie Benefiel, the Columbia district director of the Wage and Hour Division. “Employers must follow these standards and make sure their employees take home every cent they’ve earned. An employer’s failure to comply with the law can have costly consequences.”