By: Kevin Shea, for NJ.com
August 9, 2019
Ten construction workers will split a $170,000 settlement with a company the state says underpaid them while working on a construction job at a Trenton senior living community.
The company, Tri County Real Estate Maintenance Co., of Carneys Point, is also paying $30,000 in administrative fees and penalties, the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.
The project at the Trent Center East and West apartments on Greenwood Avenue in Trenton received tax credit incentive funding, through the State Economic Redevelopment and Growth program, and was subject to New Jersey’s prevailing wage laws.
A state Labor Department investigation, sent to the agency by the U.S. Department of Labor, found Tri County underpaid the laborers.
In this case, laborers stated they were paid between $15 and $30 per hour, but the prevailing wage rate was $55.37 per hour for a laborer, the state said.
The state’s Prevailing Wage Act provides level wages for workers on public works projects – to protect workers and prevent unfair labor competition. The rates vary by county and trade, the state says.
“Public contracting is not a right – it is a privilege,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a statement. “We want all employers to know that our department takes the state’s prevailing wage laws seriously, and we will continue to investigate these matters to protect our taxpayers’ investments.”