Levi Strauss to pay over $1 million in overtime back wages

(Reuters) - Levi Strauss & Co <LEVST.UL> agreed to pay more than $1 million in back wages for overtime to about 600 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor found that the jeans maker failed to record all the hours employees worked in its payroll system.

An investigation by the labor department's San Francisco district office found that the company misclassified several groups of workers as exempt from overtime.

"The federal rules governing the employee classification process are complex and it's common for companies to have issues with misclassification," a company spokesperson said in an email.

Levi Strauss worked cooperatively with the department to review the data and address questions that were raised, the spokesperson said.

The investigation covered back wages for time worked over a two-year period, according to a statement from the labor department.

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)