{"id":5579,"date":"2011-07-11T17:36:47","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T21:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/?p=5579"},"modified":"2011-07-11T17:36:47","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T21:36:47","slug":"prince-george%e2%80%99s-county-public-schools-agrees-to-pay-4-2-million-in-back-wages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/2011\/07\/prince-george%e2%80%99s-county-public-schools-agrees-to-pay-4-2-million-in-back-wages\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools Agrees to Pay $4.2 Million in Back Wages"},"content":{"rendered":"
\r\n\t\"Prince<\/a>\r\n\t
Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools Agrees to Pay $4.2 Million in Back Wages<\/div>\r\n<\/div>The US Department of Labor\u2019s<\/a> Wage and Hour Division<\/a> has obtained an agreement for Maryland\u2019s Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools system (PGCPS) to pay $4,222,146 in back wages due 1,044 workers to resolve violations of the H-1B temporary foreign worker program. Investigators from the department found that PGCPS illegally reduced the wages of the H-1B workers by requiring them to pay fees that the school system was required to pay.<\/p>\n

H-1B Visas Are for Temporary Hiring in Certain Specialty Occupations<\/strong><\/p>\n

The H-1B program allows employers to hire foreign professionals in certain specialty occupations to work temporarily in the US. Workers hired under the H-1B program must be paid at least the same wage rates and benefits as those paid to US workers doing the same job in the same area, so that the wages of similarly employed US workers are not adversely affected.<\/p>\n

Foreign Workers Have Been Paid Back Wages<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Labor Department<\/a> has the responsibility for ensuring that employers who use the H-1B program follow the law and do not place US workers at a disadvantage to H-1B workers,\u201d said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. \u201cWe are pleased this investigation has been resolved with workers paid all the back wages to which they are entitled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Civil Money Penalties Will Also Be Paid<\/strong><\/p>\n

Due to the willful nature of some of the violations, PGCPS also has agreed to pay $100,000 in civil money penalties and to be debarred for two years from filing new petitions, requests for extensions or requests for permanent residency for foreign workers under any employment-based visa program. Under the statute governing the H-1B program, willful wage violations are subject to a debarment period of at least two years. Violations are willful when an employer knew or acted in reckless disregard for whether its actions were impermissible.<\/p>\n

Certain Fees Reduced Workers\u2019 Wages Below Legal Limits<\/strong><\/p>\n

The H-1B visa program requires that employers pay certain fees, including an anti-fraud fee and a filing fee, when they utilize the program. Instead of paying these fees and other costs associated with recruiting H-1B workers and filing their visa petitions, PGCPS required the foreign workers to pay them. As a result, the workers\u2019 earnings were reduced below the amount legally required to be paid. The Wage and Hour Division\u2019s<\/a> investigation covered fees associated with the H-1B application process from May 2005 to January 2011.<\/p>\n

Agreement Subject To Approval<\/strong><\/p>\n

The agreement is subject to approval by an administrative law judge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools Agrees to Pay $4.2 Million in Back Wages The US Department of Labor\u2019s Wage and Hour Division has obtained an agreement for Maryland\u2019s Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools system (PGCPS) to pay $4,222,146 in back wages due 1,044 workers to resolve violations of the H-1B temporary foreign worker program. Investigators […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[82,47,1571,840,103,76,1572,89,131],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5579"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5582,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions\/5582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.visionpayroll.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}