Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0748
Case Information
- Content Scored
- DOL Recovers $122K in Back Wages for 140 Mississippi HVAC Workers (WHD, April 8, 2026)
- Source
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (dol.gov)
- Author
- U.S. Department of Labor (District Director Audrey Hall)
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-08
- Content Type
- Government Press Release
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-19
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
This is a wage-recovery enforcement action of the same kind as the first the Standard scored (0737, 70), and it is scored identically, because its constitutional character is the same: the government enforced the law to make American workers whole for pay they had earned. The Department recovers $122,476 in back wages for 140 Mississippi HVAC workers from an employer that did not include non-discretionary bonuses when calculating overtime wages and failed to issue final paychecks to two employees in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The recovery restores to the workers their own earned property (IX), the enforcement holds a violator to account under the rule of law (XVIII, the safety of the citizen), and the vindication of the worker's earned pay is the citizen-first value the Standard prizes (II). As in its predecessor, this is restitution rather than deterrence alone — the workers get their money — which is why it earns the same place as the first wage-recovery action rather than the slightly lower place of the penalty-only citations. It rests on federal wage regulation a limited-government reading treats with caution, but enforces existing law rather than expanding it (IX, mixed), and the register is factual and official. Tier 1 nets to 65; the result is 70 — Mostly America First.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0748 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.