In August of 2017 several UE Local 228 members, including local president Bill Ladd, filed complaints with the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (DOL WHD) concerning numerous issues and concerns at the National Visa Center (NVC). Part of that complaint was that the members driving between the two buildings were misclassified as Driver/Courier.
Under the Service Contract Act (SCA) employers are required to pay wages based on what description a job falls under in the SCA Directory of Occupations, and what the Average Wage Determination (AWD or WD) for the area in which the job is located. The drivers at NVC drive a truck that can haul over four tons, so per the SCA Directory of Occupations this would classify them as Truck Driver Heavy.
The DOL WHD investigated the complaint about the misclassification and made the decision that the drivers, both current drivers and those who had driven during this period, were misclassified and were due back wages for the period of August 2015 to March of 2017. These back wages were for the difference between the Driver/Courier rate and the Truck Driver Heavy rate: a difference of $4.73 per hour. The DOL WHD however stated that the company would only have to pay this rate for days that the drivers actual drove the truck. This equated to approximately every other day.
In the end, three of the drivers won $7,500 in back wages, while the other two won a combined total of $7,500 (approximately) for an approximate total of $30,000 in back wages.