shutterstock_406114573-600x300

Nearly $16M in wages, benefits recovered for more than 2,800 workers denied full pay by 62 subcontractors on federal project at New Jersey military base

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Agency: Wage and Hour Division
Date: January 29, 2024
Release Number: 23-2598-NAT

A widespread investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered nearly $16 million in back wages and restored over 24,700 paid sick leave hours to leave banks for more than 2,800 workers denied their full wages and benefits by 62 subcontractors hired to construct temporary housing and provide services to Afghan refugees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

After 75 investigations that included Jupiter, Florida-based Disaster Management Group LLC, one of the project’s general contractors, and 61 subcontractors, the department’s Wage and Hour Division found DMG and its subcontractors violated federal law, including the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and Executive Order 13706, by failing to:

Pay minimum prevailing wage rates to workers.
Pay fringe benefits.
Pay proper overtime.
Offer required paid sick leave under Executive Order 13706.
Properly classify workers as employees in their appropriate trades according to the work they performed.
Maintain required records, including segregating any benefits that may have been paid from wages.
Provide required notices to workers informing them of their rights under federal law.

The division found DMG liable for its own violations of federal law as well as for violations committed by its subcontractors for work performed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Managed by the Department of Defense, the project involved contractors from 17 states and Puerto Rico tasked with building temporary housing and coordinating delivery of medical, food and translation services as part of Operation Allies Refuge and Operation Allies Welcome to resettle Afghan refugees. The project began in July 2021 and was completed in February 2022.

In addition to paying the back wages and fringe benefits, DMG signed an enhanced compliance agreement with the department that requires it to develop and follow strategies to prevent, detect and resolve potential non-compliance by, among other things:

Creating a written prevailing wage compliance manual to include employees’ federal protections.
Vetting potential subcontractors’ ability to perform work in compliance with prevailing wage laws.
Monitoring itself and its subcontractors proactively by periodically conducting confidential employee interviews, reviewing basic and certified records, analyzing the use of classifications related to the work performed, verifying fringe benefit payments and maintaining a list of all employees of all subcontractors on any covered contracts.
Requiring subcontractors to certify compliance on all prevailing wage projects.
Verifying that the agency has incorporated the correct labor clauses and wage determinations.

“Every worker deserves to be paid the full wages to which they are entitled, and this compliance agreement, which recovers millions in wages for hundreds of workers, should serve as notice to other government contractors that the department will utilize its full power to enforce vigorously federal wage laws,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda.

Read More

Davis-Bacon Wage Survey Plan

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

USDOL News – April 20, 2022

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announces its Davis-Bacon Wage Survey Plan set to begin in 2022. Construction workers working on Davis-Bacon and related Acts (DBRA) covered contracts must be paid prevailing wages, which are determined by surveys of wages paid on construction projects underway or recently completed within a geographic area.

As the Wage and Hour Division begins its wage survey process, we are reaching out to contractors, contracting agencies, unions, and others in the construction industry to ensure that all stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in the wage survey process.

The division is planning wage rate surveys for Highway construction in:

  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • New Hampshire
  • West Virginia

The division is also planning wage rate surveys for Building construction in:

  • Maine

The division is also planning wage rate surveys for Building, Heavy, Highway, and Residential construction in:

  • Guam

Stakeholders can find the list of 2022 currently planned surveys here, as well as the status of surveys that are currently in progress.

The criteria used to determine areas where a survey should be performed are:

  1. Age of the previous survey
  2. Federal procurement agency plans for construction
  3. Whether stakeholders have requested a new survey of a construction type in a state or locality
  4. Whether public and private data reviews show wages in a locality have sufficiently changed to warrant a new wage determination

The Wage and Hour Division will provide outreach in each survey area to inform stakeholders how to participate in the survey process.

If you have suggestions regarding geographic areas and construction types that you believe should be considered for the 2022 or 2023 Survey Plan, please send your suggestions via email to DB-Wage-Survey-Request@dol.gov.

For more information regarding the Davis-Bacon and related Acts and the Davis-Bacon survey program, please visit the division’s website.

Two Florida companies underpaid workers $175,000. Now, one can’t bid on federal contracts (FL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BY DAVID J. NEAL
MARCH 05, 2020 06:54 AM

Two Florida electrical contractors paid $175,413 in back wages and fringe benefits to workers after they violated numerous federal guidelines while working on a West Palm Beach apartment building.

The Department of Labor said Monday the back compensation went to 46 workers or $3,813.32 per worker of Tampa’s Southern Integrated Systems and subcontractor West Palm Beach’s J & Brothers Electrical Corp. This all happened while working on Royal Palm Place in West Palm Beach.

Also, Southern is debarred or banned from bidding on federal contracts for three years.

The company run by manager Jason Dinger, according to state of Florida records, didn’t pay electricians overtime when they earned it, Labor said.

On top of that, Southern “submitted falsified certified payroll records that failed to report accurately all the hours employees worked on the project. Although the employees worked overtime every workweek, the certified payroll did not reflect those hours.”

J & Brothers, run by Juan Vincente Escalante, also tried some shucking and jiving with payroll records. Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigators saw records that said overtime hours had been paid properly, “despite the employer’s admission that they paid their workers at straight-time rates for all the hours that they worked.”

When some workers spent part of the day or week on other projects, J & Brothers didn’t keep a proper record when they were working on the Royal Palm, a federal project – thus requiring paying the area’s prevailing wages and fringe benefits – and when they were on another project. There was no way for J & Brothers to pay employees accurately.

The “prevailing wages” requirement comes from Davis Bacon and Related Acts. Paying straight time for all hours worked, when there should’ve been overtime violates the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA).

(Read More)

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

(Read More)

The St. Petersburg Wage Theft Ordinance: New Notice and Poster Requirements

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Monday, June 26, 2017

The City of St. Petersburg, Florida, recently amended its wage theft ordinance to require employers to provide pay notice to employees at the time of hire and to display “in a location accessible to all employees” a poster about wage theft. See St. Pete. Code, Chap. 15, Art. III, Sec. 15-40, et seq. These requirements are not yet in effect. As detailed below, the effective date is on hold pending the completion of a memorandum of understanding by the City, which is engaging a “community-based” organization to “implement the purposes of this article.”

The ordinance defines the term “employee” broadly to mean a “natural person who performs work within the geographic boundaries of the City while being employed by an employer . . .” including “a person who performs work that benefits an employer located within the City even though the employee may have performed work outside of the City.” The ordinance excludes “any bona fide independent contractor,” stating that the term “independent contractor” “shall have the same meaning as in the Internal Revenue Code, Fair Labor Standards Act, and implementing federal regulations, administrative interpretations and guidance” (though “independent contractor” is defined differently by the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor).

Background

On December 15, 2016, the St. Petersburg City Council passed several amendments to the City’s wage theft ordinance. Under Sec. 15-44, there are three new requirements for employers. Employers must provide a “written notice” to employees at time of hire, including a “template summary” summarizing the employee’s rights (available from the City), written notice of changes in pay, and a poster (available from the City). Sec. 15-44(a)-(d). There is also a $500.00 “per violation” penalty for an employer’s failure to adhere to any part of the ordinance. Sec. 15-44(e). The term “violation” is not defined.

(Read More)

Proposed Fix to Get Business Owners to Pay Unpaid Wages (FL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Myriam Masihy
Updated at 8:50 PM EST on Jan 24, 2017

A proposed ordinance could help strengthen Miami-Dade County’s existing wage theft ordinance.

Commissioner Pepe Diaz introduced the plan that would add attorney fees to the amount a business owes an employee who takes them to court over unpaid wages.

“They can try to ignore it but it’s going to be a lot harder,” Diaz said.

The county has a wage theft ordinance that allows a worker to take a former employer to a hearing over unpaid money. A hearing officer can rule that a business owner has to pay. But the NBC 6 Investigators found business owners still not paying workers even after the deadline passes.

The new plan would require a business to pay attorney fees and costs that a worker takes on trying to get the money. An attorney is not required in the initial hearing portion of a wage theft hearing but could be needed to pursue a business that doesn’t pay.

“We’re going to continue to do things so hopefully, hopefully this will be a thing of the past in Miami-Dade County,” Diaz said.

(Read More)

Steps for the St. Pete’s Wage Theft Protection Program

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BY DARDEN RICE, Vice Chair of St. Pete City Council
Posted on October 13, 2016 by TWC

ST. PETERSBURG – St. Petersburg’s Wage Theft Prevention Program has been underway for the past year. “Wage theft” is a broad term that includes any type of non-payment or underpayment by an employer. It can take the form of loss of overtime, illegal tip practices, being paid less than minimum wage and independent contractor misclassification.

According to a study conducted by Florida International University, Pinellas County has the fourth highest rate of wage theft in the state.

When unscrupulous businesses cheat their workers our economy suffers. Honest businesses are losing profits by being forced to compete against unethical businesses that have an unfair advantage. Workers are struggling to pay their bills and cannot afford to put money back into the local economy. All taxpayers suffer when employers refuse to pay their fair share into Social Security and workers’ compensation insurance by misclassifying their employees as independent contractors. The St. Petersburg Wage Theft Prevention Program sees these impacts first-hand on a daily basis.

(Read More)

St. Petersburg City Council seeks to bolster program to fight wage theft

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Charlie Frago, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2016 1:25pm

ST. PETERSBURG – The city has had a wage-theft program for a year, but it hasn’t worked as well as hoped.

Last month, the program’s coordinator outlined some tweaks that would strengthen enforcement and help drive recalcitrant employers to the negotiating table.

On Sept. 8, City Council members again tried to suss out how to make the fledgling program stronger.

Amy Foster wondered if exempting complainants from Florida’s Sunshine Law might encourage more people to formally file complaints with the city. Right now, less than half of those who call the city’s office actually file a complaint.

Many of those people are afraid of retaliation or ending up in the newspaper or other media, Foster said. Charlie Gerdes countered by pointing out if victims were exempted from public records laws, offending companies would be, too. And any exemption from the Sunshine Law would need state approval.

(Read More)

Miami Beach commission approves minimum wage raise

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

JUNE 8, 2016

MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – The Miami Beach City commission unanimously approved an ordinance establishing a city-wide minimum living wage increase.

The ordinance, which was first proposed by Mayor Philip Levine and co-sponsored by all six city commissioners, will take effect January 1, 2018, and gradually increase over four years until 2021. The minimum living wage will be first set at $10.31 and will increase over four years to $13.31.

The new minimum wage will apply to all workers employed in the City of Miami Beach and those covered by the federal minimum wage.

(Read More)

St. Pete leaders pass wage theft ordinance

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BY STEVEN GIRARDI
Tribune staff
Published: April 2, 2015

 

ST. PETERSBURG – An ordinance to help protect workers from being paid unfairly or, in some cases, not paid at all, passed its first review by the City Council on Thursday. The council voted unanimously to establish a city office to help workers file and pursue wage theft complaints against employers. The ordinance will require a second approval later this month.

City Councilwoman Darden Rice, who proposed the ordinance, said the city needs to protect workers, as well as employers who are harmed by competitors who pay illegally low wages.

The wage theft problem gained attention when Pinellas landed forth on list of counties with the highest incidents of wage theft in the state, behind Miami-Dade, Hillsborough and Broward, in a study by Florida International University in Miami.

(Read More)