Shell Oil Company and Motiva Enterprises, LLC, are going to have to pay nearly $4.5 million dollars to more than 2,600 employees because the companies didn’t pay employees who attended meetings the companies required the employees to attend. (Motiva is partially owned by Shell.)

Beginning in approximately 2009, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) began a crackdown on misclassification of workers. In 2011, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) joined the effort. Under an agreement between the two departments, the DOL will provide information to the IRS for investigation of potential misclassification.