Construction company agrees to $242K in back wages, damages

The U.S. Labor Department says an oil and gas industry construction company has agreed to pay $242,039 in back wages and damages to 243 employees in West Virginia. The agency said Monday that Apex Pipeline Service Inc. entered into a consent judgment with the Labor Department requiring the company to pay about $121,000 in back wages.

The agreement also requires the company pay the same amount in liquidated damages to employees at Apex's Nitro facility. The consent judgment was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia-Charleston Division. The Labor Department said investigators found that Apex misclassified field office managers and safety coordinators as exempt from overtime.