Wage theft demands legislative response, advocates say

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

June 21, 2017
By Katie Lannan and Colin A. Young
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Supporters of legislation aimed at preventing wage theft painted a picture of an urgent need for action on Tuesday, telling lawmakers that Massachusetts workers across all industries are denied hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

A bill (S 999/H 1033) filed by Sen. Sal DiDomenico and Rep. Aaron Michlewitz seeks to prevent wage law violations by allowing the issuance of stop-work orders until violations are corrected and giving Attorney General Maura Healey’s office the power to bring wage theft cases to court for civil damages.

“We’ve seen people not get paid for months on end,” Steve Joyce of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters told the Labor and Workforce Development Committee. “They’re selling what they have in order to live. That’s just wrong, and you have the opportunity to change this by passing this bill.”

Eleven months into the 2017 fiscal year, Healey’s office has received 16,000 calls to its wage theft hotline, or about 70 per day, said Cynthia Mark, the chief of Healey’s Fair Labor Division. More than 5,000 complaints have been made to the office, and the division is on track to resolve nearly 600 cases through citation or settlement. It has ordered employers to pay almost $5 million in restitution in and more than $2 million in penalties to the state’s general fund.

The bill is opposed by business groups, 16 of which signed on to a letter to the committee arguing that the solution to wage theft is not in a new law “but rather in enhanced enforcement efforts and additional funding for the Attorney General’s office to enable her staff to use the tools currently in place.”

“This bill, in its current form, will unfairly punish legitimate and law-abiding companies in all industries across Massachusetts who contract with other businesses for services, but have no control over the operations of those independent businesses,” said the letter, signed by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP Massachusetts, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts and other groups. “If a company violates the current laws, the company in violation should be penalized through existing statutes and regulations, which ensure fair and timely payment of wages.”

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Columnist Dennis Bidwell: Addressing downtown Northampton’s challenges (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on
By DENNIS BIDWELL

Monday, June 05, 2017
The Northampton City Council Committee on Community Resources, through public forums and a variety of presentations and submitted reports, has learned a great deal about both the strengths of the local economy, particularly as it affects downtown Northampton and the center of Florence, and about a variety of local challenges.
The efforts of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and several labor unions produced considerable testimony, particularly from restaurant and construction workers, about their experiences with some local employers failing to comply with wage and labor laws. We also heard from restaurant owners describing their compliance with these laws, as well as their concern that the media’s attention on just one perspective about the issue left many restaurant owners feeling they were maligned as a group.

…

This attention to wage-theft issues yielded three actions taken by the city. First, issuance by the mayor of an executive order requiring that all contractors seeking procurement contracts with the city, or seeking tax increment financing agreements, certify their compliance with wage and hour laws. Second, passage by the City Council of a resolution declaring Northampton a fair employment city, and calling on the city’s License Commission and Community Preservation Committee to adopt similar requirements regarding contractor certifications. And third, urging additional wage-theft enforcement powers and resources for the state attorney general’s office, and approval of a council order requiring all applicants coming before the council for licenses to affirm their compliance with wage and labor laws.

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Workers building high-end apartments in Worcester claim wage theft and payroll fraud

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Melissa Hanson
on April 25, 2017

 

Five local carpenters who were working on a mixed-use building that includes high-end apartments in downtown Worcester are claiming that they were victims of wage theft and payroll fraud.

The carpenters, who were employed by P&B Partitions, a contractor based in West Berlin, New Jersey, say they were victims of wage and hour violations. Three of the carpenters have filed wage complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, according to a statement from the New England Regional Council of Carpenters.

According to the wage complaints, P&B did not pay the carpenters for all hours worked and frequently paid the workers for overtime hours in cash and at less than the rate required by state law.

Dave Minasian, a spokesman for the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, said the amount of money the workers claim they were bilked of is not being released at this time.

P&B said they did not have anyone immediately available to comment on the complaint. Minasian said P&B has not responded to his organization.

The Worcester Carpenters Union is assisting the workers in recovering the allegedly lost wages.

(Read More)

Massachusetts settles with three construction companies that allegedly violated wage laws

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

by Mark Iandolo |
May 23, 2017, 8:52am

BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced May 15 that three construction companies in the state will pay more than $600,000 for allegations of failing to pay the proper prevailing wage rate to employees for work performed on public projects.

“Our prevailing wage laws ensure a level playing field for contractors who perform work for public entities, including municipalities, schools, libraries and housing authorities,” Healey said. “When contractors skirt these laws, they not only cheat employees out of their wages, they undermine the competitive business environment of Massachusetts.”

The citations came against Ronan Jarvis, former owner of MC Starr Companies Inc., DANCO Management Inc. and its owner Daniel Tremblay, and R&A Drywall LLC and owner Allan S. Vitale.

Massachusetts state law mandates that contractors and subcontractors pay employees a special minimum wage determined by the state for any work done on public construction projects.

The Jarvis and R&A Drywall cases are being handled by assistant attorney general Erik Bennett and investigator Tom Lam, both of the department’s Fair Labor Division. Assistant attorney general Barbara Dillon DeSouza and inspector Brian Davies, both of the Fair Labor Division, are handling the DANCO case.

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Pols working on wage-theft bill (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Katie Lannan, State House News Service
UPDATED: 04/26/2017 09:25:02 AM EDT

BOSTON — Workers’ rights advocates and labor leaders pledged Monday to pass into law this session a bill aimed at preventing wage theft by employers.

During a press conference in support of the bill, its backers said wage theft — a business’s underpayment, non-payment or denial of benefits to a worker — particularly hurts immigrants and can pose a barrier to families trying to move up into the middle class.

“I’m not labeling the entire employer community criminals, because the large majority of them are law-abiding and play by the rules and they deserve protection, but those employers that steal the wages from their workers are criminals,” Massachusetts Building Trades Council President Frank Callahan said. “It’s theft and stealing. They don’t carry guns, they don’t wear masks. They wear suits like this and they steal money from people who wear workboots and go to work every single day.”

The bill (S 999/H 1033) seeks to prevent wage law violations by allowing the issuance of stop-work orders until wage violations are corrected and giving the attorney general’s office the power to bring wage theft cases to court for civil damages.

Attorney General Maura Healey described a growing problem in Massachusetts, saying she has hired new investigators and expanded multilingual outreach efforts to combat wage theft. She said her office last year fielded over 20,000 calls from people reporting stolen wages and received 6,000 complaints.

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OSHA fines MA contractor $1.5M for 18 violations in fatal trench collapse

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on
April 17, 2017
Dive Brief:
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Massachusetts contractor with 18 safety violations and fined the company $1,475,813 in relation to a Boston trench accident that killed two workers in October 2016, according to an agency press release.
  • Employees of Atlantic Drain Service Co., Robert Higgins and Kelvin Mattocks, were killed while working in a 12-foot-deep trench that collapsed and broke a fire hydrant supply line. According to OSHA investigators, the trench filled with water within seconds.
  • OSHA said Atlantic did not provide basic trench safeguards and did not train employees to recognize hazardous conditions. The company and its owner, Kevin Otto, were charged earlier this year in a Suffolk County court with two counts of manslaughter and other charges related to the worker deaths.Dive Insight:

    OSHA has reported that two workers are killed every month in trench collapses, and last November, the agency found that 2016 trench fatalities had doubled since 2015.

    Aside from Atlantic’s almost $1.5 million fine, another notable element of this case is the fact that there is a press release at all. This marks the first public “shaming” citation and penalty announcement that OSHA has posted to its news releases page since President Donald Trump took office in January. While it once actively posted releases about enforcement action to that page, it now is largely reserved for announcements of safety initiatives and partnerships. However, the agency has included certain news of enforcement actions in its QuickTakes newsletters.

    (Read More)

Northampton adopts ‘Fair Employment City’ status with unanimous council vote (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Mary Serreze
on February 03, 2017 at 1:30 AM

NORTHAMPTON — The nine-member City Council took a public stand against wage theft, worker misclassification, and poor working conditions as it unanimously approved a resolution declaring Northampton a “fair employment city.”

It was one of several labor-related actions taken before a roomful of advocates packed into Council Chambers at 212 Main Street on Thursday night. The crowd broke into applause at the conclusion of the roll-call vote.

“This has been a long, complicated, and nuanced process, unifying lots of varying agendas and priorities,” said City Council president Bill Dwight.

…

The resolution declares in part that “decent working conditions and fair wages for workers is an essential part of investment in local economies and sustainable employment practices.”

It takes aim at the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, saying the practice denies workers critical benefits and protections to which they are entitled.

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Coalition lays out agenda to boost Massachusetts workers (MA)

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Posted Tuesday, January 17, 2017 4:36 pm
By Colin A. Young, State House News Service

BOSTON – Labor unions, community groups and workers rights organizations set up shop in the Great Hall on Tuesday morning to draw attention to a raft of bills that constitute a “healthy workplace legislative agenda” that they said will make workplaces safer for all employees.

Among the issues advocates hoped to bend policymakers’ ears on were public employee safety, workplace bullying, protections for pregnant workers, wage theft, paid family and medical leave, using carbon dioxide detectors in public buildings, and a raise in the state’s minimum wage.

Led by the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and the AFL-CIO, the lobby day featured briefings on bills, speeches from workers and union leaders, and visits to wrangle support among lawmakers.

“We ask you to be here today in fairness, to join us in fairness, to help us move the agenda for working people who are under attack and public employees who give their hearts and souls and then are made to be the goat,” Massachusetts ALF-CIO President Steven Tolman said during a speech to the organizers who would be visiting legislative offices. “That’s what this is about, about working together to find an agenda to make working people continue to have the strength and the benefits that they should have. That’s all we ask.”

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Allegations Of Unpaid Wages And Benefits Hit Asbestos Cleanup Firms (MA)

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January 18, 2017
By Beth Daley, The Eye

Federal prosecutors are investigating an asbestos-removal company active in the Boston area to see whether the firm withheld wages and benefits from workers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The case is part of widening U.S. Justice Department activity and private civil action targeting asbestos-removal and demolition contractors for alleged worker mistreatment amid a construction and renovation boom in Massachusetts.

Registered asbestos-abatement jobs in the state totaled 25,660 in 2016, up 64 percent in five years, as construction materials in many older buildings being torn apart for renovation often contain the carcinogenic mineral.

Within the last two years, two criminal cases and three civil lawsuits have been brought in U.S. District Court in Boston alleging companies are cheating asbestos-removal or demolition workers on wage and benefits payments. In one of the cases, the owner of an asbestos-abatement firm pleaded guilty to federal charges after prosecutors alleged he paid workers in cash to avoid employment taxes and payments he owed to union benefit funds

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Haverhill contractor settles allegations of overbilling MBTA, prevailing wage violations (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Staff Reports
Feb 25, 2017

BOSTON – A New Hampshire-based general contractor with ties to Haverhill and one of its subcontractors have agreed to pay more than $420,000 for submitting false and inflated payment requests in connection with their construction of the Assembly Square Station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Orange Line in Somerville, Attorney General Maura Healey announced Friday.

S&R Construction Enterprises, its president Stephen Early of Haverhill, subcontractor A&S Electrical and its manager Gregory Lane agreed to resolve allegations they violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false and inflated pay estimates to improperly front load payments under their contracts. In addition, S&R Construction, based in Newton, New Hampshire, and A&S Electrical are barred from bidding on and accepting new public contracts in Massachusetts for five years and one year, respectively.

…

“Building new public transportation infrastructure is how we will move Massachusetts forward, and taxpayers deserve confidence in how we spend every dollar,” Healey said. “Overbilling and front-loading creates unacceptable risks of delays and degrades the integrity of our public contracting. Taking on this fraud is a top priority.”

“We are very pleased with this result, and thank the AG’s office for its excellent work in pursuing these claims,” said MassDOT/MBTA General Counsel John Englander.

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