Citgo ordered to pay $460K in overtime back wages

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS -- A federal investigation concluded Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery owes about $460,900 in back pay to more than 200 employees for time spent briefing co-workers after their shifts ended.

The Department of Labor announced the decision in a news release Friday. A Citgo spokesperson reached for comment said any statement would have to come from corporate officials. As of late Monday, a statement had not been issued.

Citgo employees would spend an average of 15 minutes — and up to 30 minutes — following 12-hour shifts talking with incoming workers about the circumstances and status of work, and when employees worked more than 40 hours the "unrecorded and unpaid workers spent briefing their replacements resulted in violations of the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act," the news release states.

The back pay is due to 239 employees. The investigation by the Wage and Hour Division of the department was part of an ongoing multiyear, multistate compliance initiative within the oil and gas industry that started in 2012. The affected employees represent almost a quarter of Citgo's workforce at its Corpus Christi facility., in the

Read more: http://www.caller.com/news/energy-effects/citgo-ordered-to-pay-460k-in-overtime-back-wages-276cb124-6a01-6006-e053-0100007f83ac-363185071.html

Cross-posted in Omaha Steve's Labor Group.