Robins contractor pays $507,610 in back wages

A Robins Air Force Base contractor paid $507,610 in back wages to 64 employees in a agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to a Department of Labor release issued Wednesday, All Native Services failed to pay the proper wage to the employees under the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act. The act requires contractors to pay a minimum wage for work performed based on the prevailing wage for that job in the area.

The release stated that the company failed to pay the correct wage required for technical writers, drafters/computer-aided design operators and production control clerks. The workers were employed on a contract at Robins to provide “technical data support services such as editorial support and publication editing,” the release stated.

Eric Williams, the district director of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in Atlanta, said in the release that employers receiving federal dollars must pay prevailing wages required by the contract.

“All Native Services denied its workers their hard-earned wages and gained an unfair advantage over other contractors,” Williams said. “We will continue our vigorous enforcement of the law to ensure that taxpayer-funded projects such as this one deliver a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and maintain a level playing field for all contractors.”

A spokeswoman for the company at its corporate office in Winnebago, Nebraska, declined comment.

All Native Services is a subsidiary of Ho-Chunk Inc., a tribal development corporation owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, according to the release.

This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Robins contractor pays $507,610 in back wages."