City dinged on state audit for work with federal grant

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By Cecilia Garza,  Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer 

Oct 9, 2014 at 1:23PM

According to a recent review by the Washington State Auditor’s Office, the city of Bainbridge Island is not meeting wage requirements set by one of its federal grant programs.

For the most part, the city complied with state laws and its own policies, the report said.

The audit, however, found that Bainbridge did not quite meet the requirements set by a federal grant for highway planning and construction.

The city’s practices “were inadequate to ensure compliance with federal Davis-Bacon Act (prevailing wage) requirements,” the report said.

The Davis-Bacon Act relates to contractors and subcontractors performing federally-funded projects. It requires that laborers employed under the contract be paid no less than the local prevailing wage and fringe benefits that is paid for similar projects in the area.

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Ordinance sets higher wages for city projects: San Mateo officials adopt rules for public works while encouraging private developers to adopt similar policies

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October 13, 2014, 05:00 AM – By Samantha Weigel – Daily Journal

As the cost of living rises along the Peninsula, those who work on San Mateo city public works projects will be guaranteed prevailing wages after the City Council approved an ordinance codifying existing policy and to adhere to state regulations.

To receive state funding, California’s newly enacted Labor Code section 1782 requires charter cites, such as San Mateo, to pay workers at least the state’s prevailing wage on public works projects, City Attorney Shawn Mason said.

The ordinance was approved last week but Councilman David Lim said the City Council has long strived to pay its employees prevailing wages and encourage private developers to do so as well.

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$10.2M awarded to fund worker misclassification detection, enforcement activities in 19 state unemployment insurance programs

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded $10,225,183 to 19 states to implement or improve worker misclassification detection and enforcement initiatives in unemployment insurance programs.

“This is one of many actions the department is taking to help level the playing field for employers while ensuring workers receive appropriate rights and protections,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Today’s federal grant awards will enhance states’ ability to detect incidents of worker misclassification and protect the integrity of state unemployment insurance trust funds.

 

2014 Worker Misclassification Grants

State Regular High Performance Bonus  Total
California $499,792 $499,792
Delaware $27,672 $27,672
Florida $31,792 $31,792
Hawaii $500,000 $500,000
Idaho $500,000 $500,000
Indiana $500,000 $500,000
Maryland $494,600 $400,099 $894,699
Massachusetts $499,800 $499,800
New Hampshire $330,468 $330,468
New Jersey $342,222 $496,399 $838,621
New Mexico $499,970 $499,970
New York $500,000 $500,000
Oregon $500,000 $500,000
South Dakota $500,000 $500,000
Tennessee $499,260 $499,260
Texas $500,000 $775,529 $1,275,529
Utah $500,000 $327,973 $827,973
Vermont $500,000 $500,000
Wisconsin $499,607 $499,607
Totals $8,225,183 $2,000,000 $10,225,183

 

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Labor Department announces grants to fight tax cheats

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday awarded $10.2 million to nearly two dozen states to beef up enforcement of a labor scheme that companies employ to evade their tax obligations.

The announcement of the first-of-their-kind grants comes one week after McClatchy’s five-part series that uncovered the federal government’s failure to stop companies that wrongly classify their workers as independent contractors instead of employees on federal contracts.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez said the grants, which range from $28,000 to $1.3 million, will help states identify and stop so-called worker misclassification and protect state unemployment insurance benefits.

“This is one of many actions the department is taking to help level the playing field for employers while ensuring workers receive appropriate rights and protections,” Perez said in a statement.

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(Related Link – McClatchy’s “Contract to Cheat”)

Since 2006, construction workers on city projects lost more than $275,000 in wages

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Wage theft is prevalent, even among construction projects paid for by the city of Seattle.

The city’s Department of Finance and Administrative (FAS) employs six people to monitor wage theft among city construction contracts. Four have been working on the issue since 2006, but last year the council approved two more employees to address an uptick in wage-theft complaints.

Since 2006 the city’s investigators were able to pay construction employees more than $275,000 in recovered wages.

“This is not a unique issue to Seattle,” said Nancy Locke, director of city purchasing, describing how wages are intentionally and unintentionally withheld from workers.

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Seattle contractor who threatened workers with deportation to steal wages sentenced

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A Seattle contractor who’d landed more than $1.1 million in government contracts was sentenced Friday to three months in jail for scamming workers out of pay as part of a scheme to underbid his competitors.

Dathan Williams’ thefts from his workers were uncovered following an intensive investigation that saw a Seattle police officer trained as a drywall installer and inserted into his company. Williams, 33, bragged about threatening his employees with deportation when they asked to be paid correctly.

Williams, 33, appears to have been targeted as part of a larger investigation into claims that Washington subcontractors are abusing workers and ignoring wage laws meant to keep opportunistic contractors from underbidding those paying higher wages.

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Legislation Would Go After Employers Who Misclassify Workers to Avoid Benefits

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A state lawmaker says Pennsylvania regulators are coming up short when it comes to enforcing a 2010 state law intended to target companies that misclassify their workers as independent contractors.

State Senator Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia) said there is room in the economy for independent contractors, but, “there is obvious abuse of the classification which denies employees rights, benefits and protections accorded under labor laws.”

Under Act 72, independent contractors are supposed to use their own tools and equipment and should not be under the direct supervision of their employers.

The law outlines penalties for misclassifying workers, but Stack said the commonwealth is not adequately enforcing the law

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OSHA announces new requirements for reporting severe injuries and updates list of industries exempt from record-keeping requirements

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a final rule requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye. The rule, which also updates the list of employers partially exempt from OSHA record-keeping requirements, will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015, for workplaces under federal OSHA jurisdiction.

The announcement follows preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries*.

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4,405 workers were killed on the job in 2013. We can and must do more to keep America’s workers safe and healthy,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Workplace injuries and fatalities are absolutely preventable, and these new requirements will help OSHA focus its resources and hold employers accountable for preventing them.”

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(*Copy of BLS News Release)

POCAN, MILLER, MURRAY INTRODUCE BILL TO INVEST IN APPRENTICESHIPS, INCREASE SKILLED WORKERS

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Sep 18, 2014 | Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI), a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, along with Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA), and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Promoting Apprenticeships for Credentials and Employment Act (PACE Act), a new bill that would support greater development of registered apprenticeship programs. The PACE Act would help prepare more highly skilled workers for in-demand industries and occupations through heightened awareness of and participation in registered apprenticeship programs.

The PACE Act would better integrate apprenticeships into postsecondary education programs and expand apprenticeship opportunities to new areas, particularly those professions dominated by women. As such, this legislation would promote new career pathways and greater economic security for women and their families.

“This legislation provides workers and job seekers with better access to employment, education, training, and support programs to help them secure good, well-paying jobs,” said Representative Mark Pocan. “It will also improve opportunities for businesses by ensuring hard-working Americans have the skills necessary for today’s most in-demand industries and occupations. Business leaders want this. Hardworking Americans need this. Everyone benefits when our middle class thrives.”

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FORMER GENERAL CONTRACTOR SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON FOR DEFRAUDING EMPLOYEES BY TAKING $80,000 IN WAGES AND KEEPING MONEY FOR HIMSELF FROM PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS

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Orange County District Attorney
Press Release

September 25, 2014

SANTA ANA – A former general contractor was convicted and sentenced today for defrauding his employees by taking their wages totaling over $80,000 in loss and keeping the money for himself from a state public works contract. Sourin Babayan, 65, Glendale, pleaded guilty to the court to 17 felony counts of taking and receiving a portion of a worker’s wage on public works project and six felony counts of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime. He was sentenced to two years in state prison and ordered to pay $80,200 in restitution.

At the time of the crime, Babayan worked as a sub-contractor and owned SDB Construction (SDB). DJM Construction (DJM), a general contractor who was awarded a project by the State of California, for the improvement of a state developmental hospital in Costa Mesa.

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