Violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act

Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants have paid nearly $545,000 in back wages and damages to 74 clubhouse and administrative employees for violations of minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping laws after the Department of Labor investigated the team's practices regarding pay for their clubhouse and administrative workers.

The investigation from the Wage and Hour Division found that, over three-year time period, the team violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage, overtime, and record-keeping laws.

The employment agreement for clubhouse workers stipulated that they would make $55 for working 5.5 hours a day. According to the investigation they were actually working 12 to 15 hours.

It was found that the club also improperly classified some employees in a way that enabled them to avoid paying overtime. And they failed to pay overtime, or paid too little overtime to some administrative staffer.

“I am encouraged that the Giants acted to resolve this issue, but it was disappointing to learn that clubhouse workers providing services to high-paid sports stars weren't making enough to meet the basic requirements of minimum-wage law,” Susana Blanco, the director of the San Francisco District Office of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, said in a statement.

“The San Francisco Giants worked cooperatively with the Department of Labor in conducting a comprehensive review of our payroll records to identify and address any possible issues of concern,” said Staci Slaughter, a spokeswoman for the Giants. “The matter was resolved and reported on several months ago.”

The Giants entered into an agreement with the DOL to ensure future compliance with the law. The DOL will also work with Major League Baseball to ensure that all other teams are complying with these laws.

This settlement comes at a prominent time for wage theft issues. Claims of wage theft have increased 400 percent since 2000. More than two-thirds of low-income workers have experienced wage theft violations according to a 2009 report.