Karen Caffarini – Post-Tribune
September 19, 2017, 8:55 pm
Back wages totaling $103,788 have been paid to 29 individuals who were underpaid while working on the Flagstone Village affordable housing project in Hammond, according to a federal agency.
Because the Flagstone Village was a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development project, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division said the prime contractor for the job, CRG Residential of Carmel, needed to incorporate the required Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act stipulations into its subcontractors’s contracts.
According to a Department of Labor spokesman, Scott Allen, CRG was responsible for all violations and back wages owed because the subcontracts did not include these contract stipulations. Allen said subcontractors were not responsible for any wage violations on their part.
“Federal contractors owe it to taxpayers to comply with all applicable laws, including paying their workers fairly and fully,” said Wage and Hour District director Patricia Lewis, in Indianapolis. “Prevailing wage laws level the playing field for all contractors.”
Among those receiving additional compensation was a heavy equipment operator working for subcontractor Hubinger Landscaping in Crown Point, who was reportedly classified improperly, and thus paid at a lower rate than required, according to the Department of Labor.
The Wage and Hour Division also determined that CRG Residential failed to pay one employee for time spent transporting other workers to the job site at the start of the week and home from the job site at the end of the week. The company also classified the worker improperly and paid him a lower rate than required for his job classification when he was operating heavy equipment, according to the division.