US back wages await Pinoys

SAN FRANCISCO – The US Department of Labor is seeking 151 Filipino construction workers who are owed $500,000 in back wages by a company in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The department says the money is now available under an agreement it reached with Sablan Construction Co. of Saipan.

The workers were employed by Sablan between March 19, 1999 and Dec. 7, 2001, in the US commonwealth located about 3,800 miles (6,115 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii.

Labor Department officials say the workers were not paid overtime wages for all hours worked in accordance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

The officials say they are trying to locate all of the workers, many of whom left Saipan to return home to the Philippines.   – AP