The US Labor Department announced that LinkedIn has agreed to pay nearly US6 million to at least 350 workers and former employees who were not properly paid for overtime work.

The professional and career-focused social network agreed a settlement that orders it to pay workers in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York more than US$3.3 million in overtime back wages and US$2.5 million in damages.

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The settlement came after US Labor Department investigators discovered that LinkedIn failed to pay 359 workers, both current and former, who rendered overtime work.

LinkedIn, investigators said, violated the provisions for the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires employers to pay employees at least the minimum hourly wage of US$7.25 for all hours worked and for works done beyond 40 hours in a week.

LinkedIn, however, was very cooperative during the conduct of the investigation and immediately agreed to the settlement following the discovery of the violations.

David Weil, administrator of the US Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, said LinkedIn "has shown a great deal of integrity by fully cooperating with investigators and stepping up to the plate without hesitation to help make workers whole,"

LinkedIn is the only American social media network that received a license to operate in mainland China, a market that has long been the target of social media giant Facebook.

As of July, LinkedIn has quickly gained popularity in China after it attracted more than five million Chinese users. And the number is increasing by the day, said LinkedIn China President Derek Shen Boyan.

To further entice more Chinese users, LinkedIn introduce a simplified Chinese version of its website last February.

Experts believe LinkedIn, which has 260 million users worldwide, will make it big in the mainland because of less competition.

LinkedIn has also teamed up with WeChat in China, allowing its users to connect their account to the popular mobile instant messaging application.