Image copyright Reuters Image caption The networking site agreed to take proactive steps to prevent future violations

LinkedIn has agreed to pay $6m (£3.6m) in wages and damages after regulators found it failed to account for all the hours worked by its employees.

This includes $3.3m in unpaid wages and $2.5m in damages to be paid to 359 former and current employees.

It also agreed to provide compliance training and distribute its policy on overtime work to all applicable staff.

The firm said talent was its "number one priority" and it was eager to "rectify the situation".

"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 at LinkedIn.

'Great integrity'

According to the US Department of Labor, the affected employees worked at the firm's offices in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York.

"Off the clock hours are all too common for the American worker. This practice harms workers, denies them the wages they have rightfully earned and takes away time with families," said Susana Blanco, of the US Labor Department.

However, the regulator added that LinkedIn had cooperated with the investigation and had agreed to take proactive steps to prevent future violations.

"This company 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," said David Weil, administrator of the Wage and Hour Division.

"We are particularly pleased that LinkedIn also has committed to take positive and practical steps towards securing future compliance."