HOUSTON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc's U.S. subsidiary Shell Oil Co and the company's MotivaEnterprises joint-venture with Saudi Aramco have agreed to pay $4.5 million in back overtimewages to more than 2,000 current and former employees, the U.S.Department of Labor said on Tuesday.
The Labor Department's investigators found workers at Shell and Motiva chemical plants and crude oil refineries on the U.S.Gulf and West coasts were not paid for mandatory pre-shiftmeetings in violation of the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act.
Representatives for Shell and Motiva were not immediatelyavailable to comment.
"Employers are legally required to pay workers for all hoursworked, whether in the international oil industry, as in thiscase, or a local family-run restaurant." said U.S. Secretary ofLabor Thomas E. Perez. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Chris Reese)