LinkedIn has agreed to pay nearly $6 million to 359 current and former employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the online career-networking company violated the country's wage law. In a settlement announced by the Labor Department Monday, LinkedIn will pay more than $3.3 million in back overtime wages and more than $2.5 million in damages to workers at company branches in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York. A LinkedIn spokeswoman said that talent is the company's No. 1 priority and they were eager to work closely with the Labor Department to reach the settlement. "This was a function of not having the right tools in place for a small subset of our sales force to track hours properly," said Shannon Stubo, vice president of corporate communications. The Labor Department said LinkedIn failed to record and compensate workers for all hours worked, violating provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition to the settlement payment, LinkedIn will train all employees that "off-the-clock work" is prohibited for all non-exempt workers, the Labor Department said.
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-Reuters and The Associated Press