Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether security officers assigned to Blue Plains, DC Water headquarters, pumping stations, and other DC Water properties were paid for every hour worked.
What is the issue?
DC Water security guards may be required to remain at a post, respond to emergencies, attend roll call, obtain equipment, complete incident reports, or wait for a replacement officer. This time is generally compensable when the officer remains under the employer’s control.
DC Water records show that Allied Universal held a multimillion-dollar contract to provide protective services for DC Water facilities and personnel. The existence of the contract does not itself establish a wage violation; the investigation seeks information from guards about actual timekeeping and payroll practices at those facilities.
Workers may have experienced:
- Automatic meal deductions while remaining at a security post.
- Unpaid roll-call, briefing, weapons, equipment, or uniform time.
- Having to arrive early before the scheduled shift.
- Waiting without pay for a relief guard.
- Unpaid incident-report or end-of-shift work.
- Straight-time pay for extra shifts or mandatory holdovers.
- Hours split between different sites, supervisors, or payroll entities.
Signs you may be affected
- You worked as an armed or unarmed security officer, access-control officer, dispatcher, patrol officer, or other security employee at a DC Water facility.
- You worked for Allied Universal or another private security contractor rather than directly for DC Water.
- You reported early for roll call, equipment pickup, post assignments, or remained after your shift without being paid for all of your time.
- You worked more than 40 hours in a week but did not receive proper overtime pay.
- Your employer automatically deducted meal breaks even though you remained responsible for your post or could not leave your assigned area.
- You waited for a relief officer, completed reports, or returned equipment after your scheduled shift without compensation.
The security company issuing the paycheck may have worked under a larger DC Water contract. Workers can identify themselves by building, gate, post, shift, supervisor, or patrol area even when they do not know the contracting entities.
If you performed security, access-control, screening, dispatch, patrol, control-room, or other protective-services work at a DC Water facility and were not paid for all required time, please contact Migliaccio & Rathod LLP through the form below, by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (202) 470-3520.