Englewood-based Omni Contracting Management and other companies have agreed to pay nearly $1 million in back wages and interest to 2,772 workers in Colorado and five other states, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday.
Omni and the others also were fined a total of $10,000 by the department’s Denver wage and hour division.
Labor Department investigators determined that Omni and 10 related janitorial companies failed to pay time- and-a-half for overtime hours worked.
The payments were withheld from Jan. 1, 2002, through Oct. 31, 2004, the Labor Department said. The bulk of the affected employees, 1,667, were in Colorado, said Rich Kulczewski, Labor Department spokesman.
Omni maintained that it wasn’t affiliated with the janitorial companies but contracted with them to provide administrative services.
“The government took the position that all were linked,” said Peter Mun ger, Omni’s lawyer.
The companies didn’t admit guilt in agreeing to the settlement.
Two individuals, Omni president Belinda Betancourt and her husband, Hector Nava, also agreed to the settlement. Betancourt said Omni complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s regulations for overtime pay but agreed to the settlement to avoid a protracted legal battle.
“This was more of a record- keeping issue than not being paid correctly,” she said. “We don’t agree with the findings.”
Omni operates in Colorado and contracts with companies that include National Maintenance Corp., Protech Cleaning Services and Colorado National Floor Service, all of Colorado; and Star Brite Services of New Mexico, Munger said.
Companies also subject to the agreement are in Texas, Nevada, Minnesota and Arizona.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
