Office of Attorney General Maura Healey – 2/28/2019
BOSTON – An Ipswich construction company and its owners have been cited $580,611 in restitution and penalties for violations of state wage and hour laws, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
The AG’s Office has issued six citations against ERA Equipment LLC and its owners, Kristen and Angelo Ciardiello, for a range of wage theft violations including failing to pay overtime and the prevailing wage.
“Our investigation showed that this construction company stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from its workers,” said AG Healey. “Wage theft is a serious offense in Massachusetts and we will continue to take action when needed.”
The AG’s Office began its investigation in September 2017 after receiving a report alleging the company was not paying the proper prevailing wage. The investigation revealed that none of the company’s 13 employees received overtime pay when working more than forty hours in a week. Four employees were also not paid the appropriate prevailing wage rate while working on projects in the towns of Littleton, Scituate, and Wellesley, sometimes receiving less than half the prevailing wage rate required by law.
The investigation also revealed that the company failed to include some employees in the company’s payroll records, inaccurately reported the employees’ hours of work to avoid paying them overtime and kept inadequate and inconsistent payroll records.
The AG’s Office previously brought enforcement action against ERA and the Ciardiellos for nonpayment of wages, prevailing wage, and payroll records violations, including issuing citations that Angelo Ciardiello and his company, ERA Disposal LLC d/b/a ERA Equipment LLC, paid in 2015 for failing to pay five employees for one day of snow removal work.