California needs 200K construction workers to help affordability (CA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

by Steve Randall
20 Jan 2019

The lack of housing supply has multiple factors including the cost of borrowing and materials; but a shortage of labor is also a major factor in many areas.

In California, the Housing and Community Development Department has said that the sector needs improved productivity to tackle housing affordability. But a new study says there is a key barrier to this – a workforce shortage.

Smart Cities Prevail, a construction industry-focused non-profit, says that the residential construction industry in California must do more to attract the 200,000 workers it needs to meet the ambitious goal to improve affordability.

“The data shows residential construction work is more dangerous, economically risky, and lower paying than most other jobs in our economy,” said study author Scott Littlehale. “When you consider these dynamics alongside the industry’s aging workforce, its failure to institutionalize investments in apprenticeship training, and a shrinking supply of young workers and immigrants, it is clear why the housing sector is struggling to attract the new workers it needs.”

Littlehale found residential construction workers earn 24% less per year than all other jobs on average, and less than half have health insurance coverage through their employer. This is exacerbated by a typically longer commute.

(Read More)

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Palm Springs should back unions by denying Virgin Hotel project timeline extension (CA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Robert Julian Stone, Special to The Desert Sun
Published 8:00 a.m. PT Jan. 6, 2019

On Wednesday, Jan. 9, Palm Springs’ City Council will consider Grit Development’s request for an extension of completion timelines for the Virgin Hotel. The developer is asking for a three-year extension but, despite the Planning Commission’s 5-2 vote recommending that more time be granted, there is simply no justification for any extension on this project.

On Nov. 15, 2017, the council granted Grit a rebate of 75 percent of the transient occupancy taxes (TOT) for 30 years on the new Virgin Hotel and set forth a timeline for completion. The city estimates the value of this TOT rebate to be between $18 and $50 million.

This year, the State Department of Industrial Relations opined that a TOT rebate and other public funding agreements between the city and Grit Development for downtown work done so far, including on the completed Kimpton hotel, make Grit responsible for paying its construction workers a prevailing wage.

Grit wants a three-year extension because the developer intends to keep the promised TOT rebates while appealing the prevailing wage determination to the state. If that appeal fails, Grit’s attorney has indicated the developer will litigate the issue in court.

It appears the developer simply refuses to pay a living wage to workers on this project – and is willing to sue to be relieved of that responsibility.

Even with an extended construction deadline, it’s likely we will be exactly where we are now in three years. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration; the Democrat legislative super-majority; and the courts are unlikely to look favorably upon such a request.

It is disappointing that City Council did not pro-actively require prevailing wages for the project at the time they approved the generous TOT rebate for the Virgin project in 2017. Palm Springs is an increasingly expensive place to live. It is incumbent upon our legislators to protect the livelihood of local workers and advocate for a living wage

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Officials, developers: wage dispute due to “miscommunication” (CT)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Jordan Grice
Updated 4:06 pm EST, Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Bridgeport officials and developers of the new concert amphitheater are saying wage disputes over the project were due to miscommunication.

“Although it was never specified, the Harbor Yard Amphitheater, HYA, renovation was always intended to be a prevailing wage project,” said developer Howard Saffan in an email to Hearst Connecticut Media.

Tensions among construction workers building the amphitheater – the closed minor league baseball park – have apparently subsided, following confirmation that construction of the venue will, now, adhere to state law.

The Department of Labor notified the city’s economic development department this month that the project violated prevailing wage laws.

The prevailing wage statute requires contractors involved in big-ticket construction or renovations involving public funding use an assigned wage rate and DOL certified payroll for their workers.

A letter from state labor officials claimed that the contracting agency of the project – which according to the project contract is Saffan-failed to request a prevailing wage pay rate schedule or include it in the bid specifications.

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DC Suit of Florida Company is a Primer on Misclassification (DC)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

by Jim Kollaer | January 18, 2019

The recent lawsuit filed by the District of Colombia attorney general against Florida Company Power Design, Inc., labor brokers JVA Services, LLC and DDK Electric Inc., that alleges 535 workers were misclassified as Independent Contractors, or 1099 workers, provides a primer on the way that some construction companies create vehicles to avoid taxes, the payment of overtime, the provision of worker’s compensation, or medical benefits. The lawsuit demands a jury trial where the defendants will have the chance to defend themselves, but the charges detailed give a full picture of how to set up and execute a plan to use independent contractors to act as subcontractors on specific projects for a specific company.

Generally, the process that the attorney general alleges representatives of Power Design used to set up the labor brokers in business and then use those labor brokers to provide manpower for their projects, specifically in the DC area, is being repeated across the country every day. This happens specifically in the construction industry, but it also is being used in various iterations by companies in a broad range of other industries and services as well.

The details of the lawsuit are very specific in how the companies were set up, legalized on a Friday and working on Power Design projects on a Monday. Companies were allegedly set up under names and with owners who had no experience in running a company but who were coached and given contracts and employment documents allegedly by Power Design. They, in turn, provided workers who allegedly worked for Power Design as independent contractors for sub-par wages and with none of the protections provided to Power Design’s jobsite superintendents and foreman on the same jobs.

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Miami-Dade County helps victims of wage theft (FL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Layron Livingston – Reporter
Posted: 6:28 PM, January 22, 2019

MIAMI – You got the job. You did the work. But what do you do when you don’t get paid?

Wage theft is a real issue impacting workers in a wide array of industries, from restaurants and retail to construction and the corporate world.

“I think you have a lot of employees who are being promised payments, and sometimes, that promise may be fulfilled, but in many times, it’s not,” Bryant Acevedo said.

Acevedo is a public information officer with the Miami-Dade County Office of Consumer Protection.

“Do you try to sue? What do you do? I think there are a lot of people who don’t even know where to start,” he said.

Acevedo said the consumer protection office’s Wage Theft Program helps workers investigate and recover unpaid wages for free.

The office was able to successfully conciliate $361,742 worth of unpaid wages in 2017.
“Wage theft is where you have an employee who is simply not being paid [or] compensated for their work,” Acevedo said.

Types of complaints handled by the Office of Consumer Protection Wage Theft Program include:

Unpaid wages
Underpaid wages
Fewer hours than worked
Work completed after notice of separation
Work completed during pay period of termination
Rate lower than agreed upon
Unpaid vacation/sick time
Unpaid commissions
Bounced paychecks
Promised payments

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Court: General contractor can be cited for subcontractor violations (LA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Kim Slowey
Dec. 19, 2018

Dive Brief:

  • A U.S. Appeals Court judge for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans has ruled that OSHA can cite general contractors – even if their employees are not affected – for subcontractor safety violations. The ruling came after Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta requested that the 5th Circuit review an OSHA administrative court decision that said a general contractor could only be cited for safety threats to its own employees.
  • In 2017, a Denver Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Commission administrative judge ruled that Hensel Phelps could not be cited by the agency for safety hazards created by one of its subcontractors on a project in Austin, Texas. However, the 5th Circuit said more recent rulings have rendered the case law on which the administrative judge based his decision “obsolete” and said that Hensel Phelps could be held responsible for safety on the multi-employer site as a “controlling employer.”
  • According to court documents, Hensel Phelps hired subcontractor Haynes-Eaglin-Waters (HEW) for a library construction project, and HEW, in turn, hired CVI Development as a sub-subcontractor to perform demolition, excavation and other work. Hensel Phelps and HEW project staff allegedly directed CVI to work in an unsafe excavation area. An OSHA inspector cited both Hensel Phelps and CVI for safety violations. The OSH Commission will now review the matter again, taking the 5th Circuit’s decision into consideration.

Dive Insight:

While workers might have once been expected simply to accept the risks of working on a dangerous construction site as part of their job, contractors, as well as state and local authorities, have made safety a priority. And authorities have become more willing to pursue criminal charges against contractors when their disregard results in injury or death.

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Wage Theft in Downtown Worcester AGAIN! (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

15 Jan, 2019
in Uncategorized by Kevin

This just isn’t right. Why are we seeing wage theft in downtown Worcester AGAIN! Worcester is in a renaissance we’re told, but many of the carpenters who are building the new Worcester continue to be victims of illegal business practices on high profile projects.

The stolen wages occurred at the historic Central Building at 332 Main St. This is a publicly supported project that has millions of dollars in public assistance. A partial listing of funding as recorded by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette begins, “MassHousing is providing a $3.7 million permanent loan and $1.4 million in workforce housing funding from the agency’s $100 million Workforce Housing Initiative. The project also received approximately $12 million through an allocation of federal and state low-income housing tax credits by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, more than $3 million in direct affordable housing funding from DHCD, $1.2 million in HOME funds from Worcester, and approximately $5.3 million through allocations of federal and state historic tax credits.” (Worcester T&G – $5.1M financing deal for Central Building in Worcester 5/7/2016)

With this much public resources and taxpayer dollars you would expect this to be an exemplary project.

Sadly, Dellbrook Construction hired Nayelie Drywall, which is registered both as a Hartford, CT or Holyoke, MA subcontractor. Nayelie then stole wages from two non-union carpenters. After not receiving the money they were owed, these two Latino non-union carpenters came forward to the Carpenters Union for help.

“Worcester needs to stay vigilant in efforts to prevent wage theft. We’re willing to take on the Dellbrooks and Nayelie Drywall, but we’re hoping the Worcester City Council can pass a wage theft ordinance to help end the exploitation of workers in our City.”
Dave Minasian, Business Agent – Carpenters Local 336

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Singleton Bill to Help Strengthen Prevailing Wage Clears Senate (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

December 17, 2018, 5:42 pm

TRENTON – Legislation sponsored by Senator Troy Singleton, which would allow the issuing of stop-work orders for failure to pay the prevailing wage, cleared the Senate today.

“Before all else, we must protect the rights of the men and women who are working hard each and every day to earn a decent and fair living,” said Senator Singleton (D-Burlington). “New Jersey has set a high standard for how we treat our workers, and if you contract with the state on public works projects, you must be prepared to abide by that standard.”

The bill, S-2557, would permit the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to issue a stop-work order against an employer upon determining an employer has paid a worker less than the prevailing wage.

The stop-work order would apply to every site where the violation continues to occur. It could only be lifted by the commissioner if the department finds the employer has agreed to pay future wages at the required rate, return any back-wages owed to workers and pay any penalty assessed by the department. The commissioner may also require the employer to file periodic reports for two years certifying its compliance with the prevailing wage law as a condition of lifting the order.

(Read More)

(View PDF Copy of Bill)

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New Brunswick to Strengthen ‘Wage Theft’ Law (NJ)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By TOM HAYDON
January 22, 2019 at 1:23 PM

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – City business owners who fail to pay employees the wages they earn will face increased scrutiny and possible suspension of their operating licenses under a revised ordinance slated to be passed next month.

The ordinance is aimed at “wage theft,” when employers pay workers less than they are owed. Usually, the workers are day laborers and part-time employees, often at restaurants and landscaping companies. Many times the workers are undocumented.

New Brunswick passed an ordinance four years ago to address the problem – and has recouped thousands of dollars workers were not paid. Under that local law, any company facing a complaint from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development for failure to pay wages can be denied a renewal of a city operating license.

The company is not permitted to operate until the outstanding payment is resolved.

However, last September, residents from the city’s Unity Square Community Center complained to the city council that the ordinance fails to go far enough. If a company is cited by the state for not coughing up when they owe workers, the city ordinance does not take effect until that company must re-apply for its annual operating license.
That would change under the revised ordinance now before city council.

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Developers Would Provide Construction Workers with Prevailing Wage and Benefits on Government Subsidized Projects under Legislation Proposed by Council Member Ben Kallos (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

New York, NY – Affordable housing and economic development projects receiving city subsidies would be required to pay workers a prevailing wage and provide training in the classroom and on the job through apprenticeship coupled with transparency, under legislation introduced by Council Member Ben Kallos.

Construction-related injuries and deaths continued to rise for the fifth straight year to 744 injuries and 16 deaths in fiscal year 2018, approximately triple the 212 injuries and 6 deaths in fiscal year 2014 according to the Mayor’s Management Report, as reported by City and State. Over the past fiscal year, when incidents further increased by 20%, Local Law 78 of 2017 authored by Council Member Ben Kallos was implemented forcing developers to report of construction-related injuries and fatalities with new minimum fines of $2,500 for failure to report. The Local Law 78 reports have been available on a monthly basis since June 2018 from the DOB.

In 2018, a construction worker earning the minimum wage of $11.10 an hour, working full time for 35 hours a week for 52 weeks, could only bring home $20,202 a year. This year’s increase to $15 an hour in New York City would increase this to $27,300 a year. Construction workers earning the minimum wage while building affordable housing would need access to units set at 30% of Area Median Income (AMI) deemed as extremely Low-Income, the lowest band possible. While construction workers on many affordable projects earn the minimum wage, many affordable housing projects do not even offer affordable housing at such extremely low-income, only making the crisis worse.

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