Santa Ana-based Salinas Inc. owes $343,000 to 22 workers after failing to pay overtime, federal government says

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By MARGOT ROOSEVELT
Dec. 7, 2015
Updated Dec. 8, 2015 2:01 p.m.

 

Salinas Inc., a Santa Ana construction company, was assessed $342,856, in back wages and damages for failing to pay overtime to 22 workers over two years, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Monday.

Salinas’ carpet installers, painters, janitors and plumbers worked as much as 70 hours per week without earning the requisite time-and-a half for weekly hours exceeding 40, the department found.

“When employers disregard employees’ rights to legally-required overtime pay, they not only harm workers and their families, but they also put law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage,” Rodolfo Cortez, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s San Diego District Office, said in a statement released to the media.

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Calif. Bill Would Ramp Up Enforcement Against Wage Theft

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By Erin Coe April 22, 2015

Law360, San Diego (April 24, 2015, 10:43 PM ET)

 

Looking to crack down on wage theft, California’s Senate leader said Thursday he has introduced a bill that would allow state regulators to require businesses that have failed to pay court orders for worker wages to post a bond of $150,000.

State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said S.B. 588 would help boost the state labor commissioner’s efforts to go after employers that illegally withhold wages from workers. If companies that already have outstanding judgments also fail to post the bond, the bill gives the labor commissioner the option to file a lien for unpaid wages on the employer’s property.
“Wage theft has reached epidemic proportions in California,” de Leon said in a statement. “California must target the bad actors to level the playing field for honest businesses and help workers collect the pay they’ve earned.”
A U.S. Department of Labor report in December found that between 334,000 and 372,000 workers in California were paid less than the minimum wage each week, at a cost of between $1.2 and $1.5 billion annually.

To Combat Wage Theft, San Jose Weighs Local Ordinance

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By Jennifer Wadsworth / April 15, 2015

 

Taking a cue from Santa Clara County, San Jose is considering adopting a wage theft ordinance. The city rule would deny permits, licenses and government contracts to businesses with pending wage theft violations.

In a proposal submitted to the Rules and Open Government Committee, City Council members Don Rocha, Margie Matthews, Ash Kalra and Magdalena Carrasco say local enforcement would will regulatory gaps that leave thousands of low-wage workers under-paid with little recourse.

They share the story of a live-in caregiver, Priscilla Soriano, who worked 12-hour days six days a week, but never got paid overtime. In 2011, she filed a complaint with the state Labor Commission, which ruled that the employer owed her $64,904 in unpaid wages.

Between 2011 and 2014, nearly 1,100 San Jose-based businesses were slapped with wage theft judgments, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court records cited in the Rules memo. Women, immigrants and anyone working a low-wage job are the most at-risk.

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CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOREMAN SENTENCED FOR DEFRAUDING EMPLOYEES BY TAKING $330,000 IN WAGES FROM TWO PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS AND BURGLARIZING NEIGHBOR’S HOME

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 *Co-defendant in this case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing tomorrow

Date: March 23, 2015            Case # 13CF3959

SANTA ANA – A construction company foreman was convicted and sentenced Friday for defrauding employees of $330,000 in wages and keeping the money for himself from two public works contract. Antonio Naranjo Jr., 41, Costa Mesa, pleaded guilty Friday, March 20, 2015, to 11 felony counts of taking and receiving a portion of a worker’s wage on public works project and two felony counts of recording a false and forged instrument. He was sentenced to four years and six months in state prison. Naranjo Jr. is currently serving two years and eight months in state prison for a residential burglary conviction in 2012 (Case #12HF3186) and will now serve seven years and four months in state prison.

Labor Enforcement Task Force (LETF)

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Learn more about LETF in California and the Underground Economy

 

The Labor Enforcement Task Force, under the direction of the Department of Industrial Relations, is a coalition of California State government enforcement agencies that work together and in partnership with local agencies to combat the underground economy. In this joint effort, information and resources are shared to ensure employees are paid properly and have safe work conditions and honest, law-abiding businesses have the opportunity for healthy competition.

Court of Appeal Rules: Company Can Sue Competitors for Failure to Pay Prevailing Wages

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By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

Monday, February 23, 2015

 

Building companies can sue a competitor whose violations of the prevailing wage law allegedly enabled it to submit lower bids and thereby gain contracts that would otherwise have gone to the plaintiffs, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday.

Div. Eight, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a Riverside Superior Court judge’s ruling dismissing the suit by Roy Allan Slurry Seal, Inc. and Doug Martin Contracting, Inc. against American Asphalt South, Inc. The suit is one of five that the plaintiffs have filed, claiming that American Asphalt interfered with prospective economic advantage by unfairly underbidding on 23 contracts with Riverside County and with 16 cities in that county and Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego counties.

The complaints also included claims for predatory pricing under the Unfair Practices Act, and sought injunctive relief under the Unfair Competition Law, but the appeals court Friday said those claims were correctly dismissed.

The successful bids on the contracts totaled $14.6 million. The plaintiffs claimed that if the difference between the wages required by Labor Code §§1770 and 1771, and those actually paid by the defendant, were added to the defendant’s bids, each of the contracts would have gone to one of the plaintiffs, rather than to the defendant.

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California Department of Industrial Relations and Labor Commissioner Champion “Wage Theft Is A Crime” Campaign

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Wednesday, February 18, 2015

 

Last year the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) initiated a campaign, entitled “Wage Theft is a Crime,” to educate California workers about the complexities of California’s wage laws. DIR Director Christine Baker stated that the “department’s mission is to protect California’s workers with comprehensive labor laws and enforcement focused on businesses that intentionally skirt the law.” The department’s recent effort is the “Wage Theft is a Crime” campaign which encourages workers, especially those in low-wage industries, to report possible labor code violations within the workplace. In support of this program, educational materials have been distributed through local events, mailings, and digital and print media in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong and Tagalog.

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What is a “Public Work” Under California Law?

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Monday, February 16, 2015

by Richard E. Donahoo

 

 

Often workers are unsure whether the California project where they are working is a “public work” that requires their employer to pay them a minimum “prevailing wage” rate set by the State of California.

California Labor Code section 1720 defines a public work as:

“Construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds . . . For purposes of this paragraph, “construction” includes work performed during the design and preconstruction phases of construction, including, but not limited to, inspection and land surveying work. For purposes of this paragraph, “installation” includes, but is not limited to, the assembly and disassembly of freestanding and affixed modular office systems.”

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Employees’ Actions Lead To Contractor’s Conviction And Level The Playing Field

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February 11, 2015

SACRAMENTO, Calif., 

 

Feb. 11, 2015/PRNewswire/ — Licensed electrical contractor  Calvin Harris, of Harris Electric, was convicted of eight felony counts on February 9 for not paying employees prevailing wages and falsifying documents to conceal his actions. The investigation was conducted jointly by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the California Department of Industrial Relations and the California Department of Insurance. According to Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley’s press release, two of Harris Electric’s employees reported being victims of the wage theft on three public works’ projects – Alameda County General Services Agency (Santa Rita Jail Solar Project), the Port of Oakland and the City of Fremont – which led to the investigation of Harris.  According to the press release, “A comparison of Harris’ payroll records for the Alameda County projects revealed employee wage theft violations of $359,347.89,” which impacted 11 employees.

US Department of Labor recovers $106K in fringe benefits for workers on federally financed construction projects

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Date:  February 9, 2015

U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division
Release Number: 14-2268-SAN
 

SAN FRANCISCO — An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division discovered that Napa-based Avcon Constructors Inc. did not make timely benefit plan payments on behalf of 19 employees working at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Hospital and the Training Exercise Warehouse at Fort Hunter Liggett. Employees on these projects were working on federally financed contracts subject to Davis-Bacon and Related Acts regulations. The DBRA requires that contributions to funds for bona fide fringe benefits must be made at least quarterly.

“Taxpayers have the right to expect that federal contractors understand their obligations and comply with the law,” said Susana Blanco, director for the department’s Wage and Hour division in San Francisco. “The department works to ensure workers are paid proper wages and benefits in a timely manner. The agency will take action to recover payment when workers are denied their rightful compensation. We do so to create a level playing field for employers, ensuring those who shortchange workers do not gain a competitive advantage.”

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