Cleveland-area contractor sentenced to prison for paying workers criminally low wages (OH)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Eric Heisigon January 17, 2017 at 2:54 PM, updated January 17, 2017 at 5:47 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Cleveland-area contractor who paid his employees criminally low wages while working on projects for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison.

Marcus Butler, who operated of L & B Electric of Northeast Ohio, lied on forms between 2011 and 2013 and said he paid his employees $126,514.80 more than he actually had when doing subcontracting work at three CMHA properties.

The work was part of a federally-funded project, as the CMHA receives money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Under federal law, employers working on federal projects are supposed to pay their workers a certain rate, known as a “prevailing wage.”

Butler, 32, of Bedford was indicted in 2015. He pleaded guilty in September to 61 counts of making false statements.

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Haverhill contractor settles allegations of overbilling MBTA, prevailing wage violations (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Staff Reports
Feb 25, 2017

BOSTON – A New Hampshire-based general contractor with ties to Haverhill and one of its subcontractors have agreed to pay more than $420,000 for submitting false and inflated payment requests in connection with their construction of the Assembly Square Station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Orange Line in Somerville, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Friday.

S&R Construction Enterprises, its president Stephen Early of Haverhill, subcontractor A&S Electrical and its manager Gregory Lane agreed to resolve allegations they violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false and inflated pay estimates to improperly front load payments under their contracts. In addition, S&R Construction, based in Newton, New Hampshire, and A&S Electrical are barred from bidding on and accepting new public contracts in Massachusetts for five years and one year, respectively.

…

“Building new public transportation infrastructure is how we will move Massachusetts forward, and taxpayers deserve confidence in how we spend every dollar,” Healey said. “Overbilling and front-loading creates unacceptable risks of delays and degrades the integrity of our public contracting. Taking on this fraud is a top priority.”

“We are very pleased with this result, and thank the AG’s office for its excellent work in pursuing these claims,” said MassDOT/MBTA General Counsel John Englander.

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OSHA finalizes beryllium exposure rule

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Kim Slowey
Jan. 9, 2017

 

Dive Brief:

  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Friday that it has finalized its new beryllium exposure rule.
  • In this latest regulation, OSHA has further limited contact with beryllium’s cancer-causing dust from 2.0 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an eight-hour period – a standard established in 1949 – to 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. The new rule also requires protective measures and equipment, as well as changing rooms and showers for at-risk employees.
  • OSHA included the construction and shipyard industries in its final rule after excluding them from its initial proposal in 2015, according to The Hill.

 

Dive Insight:

Employers have been given three years to put into operation all of the protective aspects of the regulation. They have one year to bring exposure limits within the new boundaries, two years to furnish changing rooms and showers and three years to enact engineering controls. OSHA said compliance will cost employers approximately $74 million a year but that medical and death-related expenses will drop more than $560 million a year. OSHA estimated that the new limits will protect approximately 62,000 workers, preventing 46 new cases of beryllium-related disease and 94 associated deaths each year.

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Comptroller Stringer Debars Contractor that Cheated Immigrant Workers out of $1.7 million in Prevailing Wages and Benefits

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K.S. Contracting Corporation employed a kickback scheme that preyed on at least 36 immigrant workers

 

Newsroom / Press Releases & Statements
FEBRUARY 13, 2017

(New York, NY) – New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today assessed $3.2 million in fines against K.S. Contracting Corporation and its owner, Paresh Shah, for cheating dozens of workers out of the prevailing wages and benefits they were owed under the New York State Labor Law. In addition to being assessed $3.2 million in unpaid wages, interest, and civil penalties, K.S Contracting and Mr. Shah will be barred from working on New York City and State contracts for five years. K.S. Contracting was named as one of the worst wage theft violators in New York in a report by the Center for Popular Democracy in 2015.

“With President Trump taking clear aim at immigrants across the country, we need to stand up and protect the foreign-born New Yorkers who keep our City running. Every New Yorker has rights, and my office won’t back down in defending them,” New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer said. “Contractors might think they can take advantage of immigrants, but today we’re sending a strong message: my office will fight for every worker in New York City. This is about basic fairness and accountability.”

K.S. Contracting was awarded more than $21 million in contracts by the City Departments of Design and Construction, Parks and Recreation, and Sanitation between 2007 and 2010. Projects included the Morrisania Health Center in the Bronx, the 122 Community Center in Manhattan, the Barbara S. Kleinman Men’s Residence in Brooklyn, the North Infirmary Command Building on Rikers Island, Bronx River Park, the District 15 Sanitation Garage in Brooklyn, and various City sidewalks in Queens.

The Comptroller’s Office began investigating the company after an employee filed a complaint with the office in May 2010. The multi-year investigation used subpoenas, video evidence, union records, and City agency data to uncover a kickback scheme that preyed on immigrant workers.

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Just Announced – 19th Annual NAFC Conference – Nashville, TN, Sept. 24 – 26, 2017

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

 

 

NAFC will be holding their next Annual Conference in 2017 in Music City U.S.A., Nashville, Tennessee. The Conference will be held at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel, in the heart of the city. NAFC’s National Conference is attended by several hundred participants from across the nation, including representatives from labor organizations, fair contractors, fair contracting compliance organizations as well as researchers, academics, attorneys and officials from federal, state and local governments. Stay tuned for further details and registration information coming in early 2017.

(View NAFC Conference Page)

Productivity slides without prevailing wage laws Larry L. Roberts

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BY LARRY L. ROBERTS
DECEMBER 30, 2016 12:36 PM

Recently, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dave Adkisson penned a column with his Christmas wish list of low-road pro-business issues he expects the GOP to address in the 2017 General Assembly.

While I am not surprised by Adkisson’s support for repeal of Kentucky’s prevailing-wage law, I am surprised he relied upon a flawed draft report to substantiate repeal of something as important to the economy as prevailing wage.

The report he referenced was not adopted by the Kentucky legislature’s Program Review and Investigations Committee at its Dec. 16, 2014 meeting for a variety of reasons. The report was not an accounting of construction costs; it was a back-of-the-envelope hypothetical calculation about wages – and wages only.

There was no consideration of whether or not projects were completed on time. There was no consideration of cost overruns. There was no consideration of productivity of low-wage contractors and there was no consideration of downstream maintenance cost.

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Prevailing Wage Repeal Would Hurt Kentucky’s Economy

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Repealing Kentucky’s prevailing wage law would weaken the state’s economy, according to a new study.

Eliminating prevailing wage would cause a pay cut for middle-class workers, qualify more workers for public assistance, slash apprenticeship training, and result in more of Kentucky’s tax dollars going to out-of-state or foreign contractors. Veterans, who populate construction trades at a higher rate than non-veterans, would be particularly impacted if Kentucky were to repeal its prevailing wage standards.

DECEMBER 16, 2016

The report was authored by economics professor Kevin Duncan, PhD and Frank Manzo IV, MPP- Policy Director of the Midwest Economic Policy Institute, a division of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute.

Full Report: The Economic, Fiscal, and Social Effects of Kentucky’s Prevailing Wage Law.

Fact Sheet #1: One-page summary of the report.

Fact Sheet #2: One-page summary – version 2.

The preponderance of peer-reviewed economic research finds that prevailing wage laws do not increase construction costs, including three-fourths of all studies over the past two decades. This finding directly disputes the claims of those who advocate for repealing Kentucky’s 76-year-old prevailing wage law. Unfortunately, some prevailing wage opponents are either really bad at math, or they expect the people of Kentucky to work for poverty-level wages.

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Effect of state laws prohibiting the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities on the enforcement of section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

November 17, 2016
Issued by ADMINISTRATOR DAVID WEIL

This Administrator’s Interpretation provides guidance regarding the impact of state laws that prohibit the payment of subminimum wages to workers with disabilities on the enforcement of section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers paying subminimum wages to workers with disabilities under a section 14(c) certificate must pay these employees in accordance with both Federal and state laws. The issuance of a certificate under the provisions of section 14(c) of the FLSA does not excuse noncompliance with any state law establishing higher minimum wage requirements.

I. Background

The Secretary of Labor is authorized to administer and enforce section 14(c) of the FLSA, which provides that “to the extent necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment, [the Secretary] shall” issue certificates permitting employers to pay subminimum wages to workers who have disabilities for the work to be performed. 29 U.S.C. 214(c). The regulations interpreting FLSA section 14(c) explain the certificate application process and the requirements for payment of subminimum wages under a certificate. See 29 CFR part 525.1 Subminimum wage rates permitted by section 14(c) must be based on the prevailing wage for the job and must be commensurate with the worker’s productivity as compared to the productivity of an experienced worker who is not disabled for the work to be performed. Under contracts with the Federal Government subject to the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA) and the Walsh-Healy Public Contracts Act (PCA), employers with section 14(c) certificates are permitted to pay wages that are lower than the applicable prevailing wage under the contract to workers who have disabilities for the work to be performed.

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Prevailing wage repeal a con job | Frank Manzo IV

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Frank Manzo IV, Guest Contributor
7:46 a.m. EST December 19, 2016

The dictionary defines a “con job” as an act of “swindling or duping” to get one’s way.

Kentucky voted overwhelmingly to elect Donald Trump President, along with historic GOP majorities in both houses of the Legislature. To win, Trump and Kentucky Republicans campaigned on a lot of promises–including to “create jobs,” and “lift the wages” of working people.

Early next month, the Kentucky Legislature is expected to do just the opposite, by repealing the state’s prevailing wage law.

Prevailing Wage is the minimum wage for skilled construction work on state-funded projects. There are over 82,000 Kentuckians working in occupations affected by its state prevailing wage-carpentry, plumbing, electrical, pavers, roofers, painters and more. A repeal of prevailing wage would be a state-mandated pay cut for these workers.

Recent research by the Midwest Economic Policy Institute and renown Economist Dr. Kevin Duncan shows that prevailing wage repeal will cost 1800 of these workers their jobs, drive almost 6,000 into poverty and onto public assistance, cost another 6,000 their employer-sponsored health insurance, and will eliminate pension plans for another 10,000 workers. And because lower wages translates to lower spending by workers in their communities, prevailing wage repeal will cost Kentucky another 1100 jobs across other economic sectors.

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Opinion: How prevailing-wage laws help veterans

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

12/08/2016, 06:51pm
Mike Pounovich and Marc Poulos

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked an Obama administration rule to extend mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million salaried workers from taking effect, imperiling one of the outgoing president’s signature achievements for boosting wages.

Veterans work in construction at higher rates than non-veterans. And the military invests heavily in training for these types of jobs – providing 22 percent of all skilled trade apprenticeships in the country today.

Research and our own experience inside the industry shows that the key policy driving many veterans and others into these middle-class construction careers is prevailing wage laws – the minimum wage for skilled construction work. Prevailing wage laws not only make veterans more likely to pursue a career in the trades, they also reduce the likelihood of a veteran in construction living in poverty by as much as 30 percent. They promote higher workmanship, safety, and efficiency standards on public construction projects. And by virtue of providing more working families with money to spend in their communities, they are proven to boost job creation across all sectors of the economy.

While these laws were created by Republicans and have long enjoyed broad bipartisan support, many in President-elect Trump’s party are calling for their repeal. Vice President-elect Mike Pence repealed Indiana’s prevailing wage in 2015, and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has gone so far as to hold the entire state budget hostage over a similar demand.

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