unnamed

US Department of Labor recovers more than $947k from Oregon federal contractors who denied full wages, benefits to 213 construction workers

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Wage and Hour Division

September 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $947,547 from four Oregon contractors who failed to pay fringe benefits, prevailing and overtime wages to 213 employees working on federally funded construction projects in Oregon and Washington.

The recovery follows several investigations by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and the discovery of violations of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Specifically, federal investigators found the following:

G Builders LLC, a Damascus wood framing company, classified employees incorrectly and failed to pay them the appropriate prevailing wages and fringe benefits for the type of work they did while building affordable housing units at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded projects in Gresham and Eugene, and in Vancouver, Washington.
Joshua Legacy Painting and Restoration LLC, a Hillsboro construction contractor, did not pay workers the correct prevailing wages, fringe benefits and overtime while building affordable housing for farmworkers at the federally funded Colonia Paz complex in Lebanon.

Emagineered Solutions Inc., a Redmond heavy construction contractor and equipment manufacturer, incorrectly classified workers for the type of work they did and failed to pay them proper prevailing wages and overtime while working on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-funded project at the John Day Lock and Dam in the Columbia River near Rufus.
Reyes Construction LLC, a Bend roofing services contractor, failed to pay employees corresponding prevailing wages and fringe benefits while working on a residential construction project in Ontario with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In total, the division’s investigations helped 213 workers recover $846,440 in prevailing wages and fringe benefits, and $101,106 in overtime wages. The department also assessed G Builders $10,000 in penalties because the company violated similar federal labor laws in 2016 and 2021.

Read More

unnamed

Wage thieves will soon face criminal prosecution in Multnomah County

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Northwest Labor Press – By Colin Staub
Aug 17, 2022

Employers who intentionally withhold wages totaling more than $10,000 could be taken to criminal court under an agreement in development between state labor regulators and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.

Oregon’s Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) signed a memorandum of understanding with District Attorney Mike Schmidt on March 7. It’s not binding and isn’t legally enforceable, but it indicates both parties intend to enhance enforcement of wage and hour laws.

No cases have been referred for prosecution yet. But BOLI Wage & Hour Administrator Laura van Enckevort said she hopes to have at least a few cases identified for referral to the DA’s office in September, and definitely before the end of the year.

Employers could face felony charges

Schmidt says he was interested in tackling wage theft even before voters elected him in May 2020. He draws a connection between wage theft and public safety.

“When workers aren’t paid and they can’t bring home a paycheck, then that hits food on the table, the electric bill, the school supplies, that hits everything, and that can destabilize entire communities,” Schmidt said. “When I think about public safety, the thing that I think makes us the most safe is when communities are healthy and thriving. If you look out across Multnomah County, the places with the greatest economic disparity are the places we see the most criminal challenges.”

Schmidt says he’s heard several first-hand accounts from victims of wage theft since entering office. In one case, a man came to Schmidt to advocate on behalf of a group of Portland laborers who weren’t being paid by a contractor.

“They got to the first round of checks, and they bounced,” Schmidt said. “The second round of checks, and they bounced. They got to the third round, and he promised a bag full of cash. And then he showed up with an empty bag. He kept stringing them along until they finally walked off the job.”

(Read More)

unnamed

Union volunteers help enforce laws against construction wage theft on Multnomah County projects (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Feb 18, 2020
By Don McIntosh

In the fight against wage theft, the volunteer cavalry has begun to arrive. On Jan. 21, the Multnomah County Commission heard a first report back about a pilot program in which union and community volunteers help County officials police construction work sites to make sure public works contractors are obeying labor laws, such as paying prevailing wage and overtime, not exceeding the mandated apprentice-to-journeyman ratio, and not misclassifying construction workers into lower-paid job classifications.

There are 13 volunteers so far, mostly business representatives from local building trades unions. … Volunteers also get ID badges authorizing them to visit construction work sites, where they speak with workers about conditions-to make sure they match up with what their employers are reporting. Any violations are reported to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries for enforcement.

“Access to the workers is the biggest thing,” said Sheet Metal Workers Local 16 organizer Brian Noble. “They usually don’t know that the company could be stealing money from them. By talking to them, we can find out.”

The first batch of volunteers was trained last August. So far the program includes volunteers from the Sheet Metal, Painters, Carpenters, Operators, Ironworkers, Glaziers, and Bricklayers unions. The software launched Oct. 1. Site visits began later that month. The program is modeled on a similar program used by the Los Angeles Unified School District. …

County commissioners last May approved temporary funding for the pilot program. After hearing the Jan. 21 progress report, commissioners voiced support for making the program ongoing when County Chair Deb Kafoury submits her next proposed budget in April. …

Commissioner Lori Stegman said she’d like to see the program go statewide.
“The term ‘wage theft’ doesn’t really cover it. This is exploitation,” added Commissioner Susheela Jayapal.

(Read More)

Taking workforce development to school (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Josh Kulla
10/24/19

Contractors in the Portland-metro area are continuing to address the skilled labor shortage by reaching out to educators. Walsh Construction, for example, is helping Benson Polytechnic High School build up its construction technology program.

Last year, Walsh employees spent time in the Benson woodshop to give students hands-on carpentry construction. This year, expansion has allowed instructors to take better advantage of Carpenters International Training Fund (CITF) curriculum. And from a pair of half-full woodworking classes a year ago, the construction technology program has grown to around 100 enrollees – approximately 10 percent of the Benson student body – engaging in classes that could lead them to careers in the skilled trades.

Participants in the two-year program take courses focusing on construction industry soft skills and preliminary hard skills they can use to eventually learn a trade or even go into project management. Students even are taught how to use 3-D modeling software.

“We’ve dramatically changed in the sense of participation,” said Benson woodworking instructor Dave Ketah, a former design professional. “We started the new elective woodworking, and last year was my first year on staff here, so on some level there is new direction for our department. We have gained some really good, new strategy; we have the partnership with Walsh and we’re amplifying our participation and our coverage of the curriculum we use from CITF.”

All told, students who participate in woodworking all year will have taken enough CITF coursework to earn pre-apprenticeship level 3 status, Ketah said. They will have soft skills and building skills needed to qualify for an apprenticeship with their local carpenters union – in this case, United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 1503 of Oregon City.

A few of Ketah’s former students already are making their way into the industry.

“The results are that we have had students in our partnership with the (Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute) entered into an apprenticeship,” he said. “We had a visit from a student last month who graduated last year and he told us about it. He got some credit for this stuff here and for doing the PNCI construction camp. He got pre-apprenticeship credits that put him as a second-term apprentice.”

Someone following that same path, Ketah said, could earn as much as $80,000 annually after reaching journeyman status at age 22.

“We’re able to tell that story to our students as we recruit them to come into our program,” he said.

(Read More)

Thoughts on labor, unions and prevailing wages (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

I’ve come to my support of labor, unions and prevailing wages in several ways.

Theresa Kohlhoff
Thursday, August 29, 2019

Labor Day signals the end of summer, kids going back to school, my birthday, late season harvests and barbecues. This Labor Day, given the PERS vote in the legislature and the LO council goal to advocate against our state prevailing wage law, as the sole dissenter on the council to this “goal,” I wanted to also make some observations about the significance of the holiday itself.

Oregon’s prevailing wage law, “Little” Davis-Bacon Act, is modeled after the federal law. The statutory purposes are progressive: “To ensure that contractors compete on the ability to perform work competently and efficiently while maintaining community-established compensation standards; to recognize that local participation in publicly financed construction and family wage income and benefits are essential to the protection of community standards; to encourage training and education of workers to industry skills standards and to encourage employers to use funds allocated for employee fringe benefits for the actual purchase of those benefits.”

If a public works project – e.g. schools, roads, pipelines and other public facilities – is going to cost over $50,000, LO must pay prevailing wages. These wages are generally, but not precisely, the rate that union workers get paid in a particular geographical area and are set by the Bureau of Labor and Industries. So for example, the prevailing rates for a public contract in the Portland metropolitan area will generally be higher than, say, in Eastern Oregon.

On the other far end, non-union, non-prevailing wage construction workers may be paid at a cheaper rate, and with or without benefits. Touted as choice and freedom for the worker, it is touted as fiscal responsibility: Paying the differential between the two rates – prevailing and non-prevailing – is denounced as a waste of tax payer money.

I disagree.

If one only focuses on the cost of prevailing wage labor in public contracting versus cheaper non-prevailing wage labor, the economic analysis completely overlooks equal or greater cost savings and the major benefits derived from prevailing wage – to the public entity, to the worker and to the community. Note: I am not advocating for public projects that are beyond our means, or for disregarding prudent budgeting. Raw cost to taxpayers obviously matters. It’s just that true costs have to include far more economic and community factors than just the one criteria: cheapest contract bid. One only has to look at the dismal prospects of our youth as the dark cloud of income inequality and the gig economy reveals who is benefitted by the squeeze and who is gasping from being squeezed.

I’ve come to my support of labor, unions and prevailing wages in several ways. For one, I’ve had practical experience as a lawyer representing a private contractor doing major projects in five states.

He preferred to use union labor and continues to support a strong union.

He got better ratings and therefore cheaper insurance. He was rewarded with an enhanced reputation, even in a fast moving environment, for getting jobs done well and on time. Nothing in this world is perfect but to this business owner the extra labor cost was really minimal when the issue was considered as a whole.

Research confirms and expands these observations. For example, see www.smartcitiesprevail.org/benefits-prevailing-wage/. A union construction worker earns as much as 17% more, lowering the poverty rate by 30%; worksite injuries and fatalities are reduced by as much as 18%; apprenticeships for veterans and POC are expanded by 40%; unfair competition from employers cutting corners on safety/quality is reduced; job productivity is improved by as much as 20%; up to $367 million is saved on food stamps and tax credits. Every $1 of prevailing wage produces $1.50 for the economy! Is this not the way to opportunity? Is this not the way to have confidence and NOT scare ourselves into recessions? The way to build/rebuild a vibrant, resilient, capable middle class that benefits and supports the entire community? I certainly think so.

(Read More)

New wage and hour chief comes to Oregon from the national union movement (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

July 10, 2019
By Don McIntish

The top Washington DC lobbyist for North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) is starting a new assignment: Oregon Wage and Hour Administrator. Hired by Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle, Sonia Ramirez began her new position July 8.

Wage and Hour administrator oversees staff responsible for enforcing a range of vital workers rights laws, from minimum wage and overtime rules to child labor, farm and forest labor contracting laws, and requirements that contractors pay the prevailing wage on public construction projects.

As NABTU government affairs director in Washington, DC, Ramirez fought to defend the federal prevailing wage law, known as Davis-Bacon, from attacks by union foes in Congress. She served nine years in that capacity. Before that, she was a lobbyist on immigration policy for the national AFL-CIO.

Ramirez met Hoyle through NABTU when Hoyle went to Washington as a state legislator, but Hoyle was as surprised as any when Ramirez decided to make a career change and apply for the job in Oregon. Ramirez sees it as a continuation by other means of her work on behalf of working people.

Ramirez grew up bilingual in a building trades union household in Los Angeles, the youngest of nine children of parents who immigrated to the United States from Mexico. Her father, formerly a union member in Mexico, was a member of Laborers Local 300 in Los Angeles for 50 years. Growing up, her father’s union meant food on the table, and a chance to see Santa Claus at the union hall every year. Later, at NABTU, she became a journeyman member of her father’s local by invitation of national Laborers Union president Terry O’Sullivan. Even now as wage and hour administrator, she maintains her membership in the union.

“I’m well aware of what is at stake, and the political forces that pile up against workers,” Ramirez told the Labor Press about her new position. “Enforcing [these laws] is a very significant responsibility that I take wholeheartedly.”

(See Article)

Multnomah County takes on wage theft (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Apr 16, 2019 | Workers Rights
By Don McIntosh

A proposed pilot program could make Multnomah County a trailblazer in fighting wage theft in construction. To make the case for it, a panel of union members and advocates addressed the County Commission April 9 about the many ways unscrupulous contractors cheat workers out of wages – and why the complaint-driven process at Oregon’s understaffed Bureau of Labor and Industries isn’t enough to stop it. [Watch their presentation here.]

Wage theft is the underpayment or nonpayment of wages or benefits that workers are legally entitled to receive. It’s not uncommon in construction – even on taxpayer-funded public construction projects that employ compliance staff to guard against it. Those staff need help, several union representatives told commissioners.

And they’d get that help under the proposal put forward by Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury’s office. As detailed in a budget memo, the proposed Labor Compliance Pilot Program would allow knowledgeable members of the public, such as union representatives, to volunteer to help enforce prevailing wage and wage and hour laws on County construction projects. The volunteers would have access to the certified payroll records that contractors submit to the County – and be allowed to visit worksites to interview workers.

Modeled on a program at Los Angeles Unified School District, the pilot project would assign a half-time-equivalent staff person to train and support 10 volunteers who would visit the County’s construction projects.

…

Thirteen ways to cheat your employees out of wages

Wage theft is far too common in construction. Here are some ways crooked contractors do it.

  • Don’t pay them. Hire a day laborer for a day’s work, then stiff them when the work is done.
  • Don’t pay for breaks. Tell them the company’s in too big a hurry for them to take meal and rest breaks.
  • Don’t pay them overtime. You can’t afford time-and-a-half.
  • Tell them they’re independent contractors. That gets you out of paying employer Social Security tax, unemployment insurance, workers’ comp, and maybe even minimum wage.
  • Don’t pay them for time in transit. Tell them to pick up the company truck and equipment and drive 50 miles to the work site, but pay them only for the hours they work on site.
  • Call them apprentices. Pay your journeymen the apprentice wage.
  • Work them off-the-clock. Ask them to do a little prep work before they clock in, or a little cleanup after they clock out.
  • Ask for kickbacks. You gave them the prevailing wage job, didn’t you? Have them pay some of those higher wages back to you, or to the foreman, or labor broker.
  • Pay piece rate. So what if it ends up less than minimum wage?
  • Deduct things from their wages. Why should you pay for the tools or supplies they need to do the job?
  • Misclassify them. On a prevailing wage job, pay them at the laborer rate while they do carpenter or painter work.
  • Leave off benefits. Prevailing wage includes money for benefits, but who can afford to offer them?
  • Lie about the number of hours they work. Pay the prevailing wage. Just tell the project superintendent that your employees worked half as many hours as they really did.

(Read More)

Funding stream sought for workforce training (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By: Josh Kulla
January 22, 2019 1:50 pm

There’s no end in sight to the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the construction industry. That, in short, is motivating supporters of Senate Bill 82 in the Oregon Legislature’s 2019 session. It would direct the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries to establish a new program that would provide supportive services for pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs throughout the state. The program would be funded by a pass-through fee attached to certain public works projects subject to prevailing wage rates.

Kelly Kupcak, executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., worked with representatives of other pre-apprentice groups to help craft the bill. While with the Chicago Women in Trades, Kupcak in 2006 helped push for the passage of similar legislation supporting pre-apprenticeships for women and other disadvantaged groups by linking funding for training in a larger infrastructure bill.

“In Illinois they were able to get enough support from the state Legislature and governor’s office to institute a set-aside from capital improvement projects for pre-apprenticeships,” Kupcak said. “There is this ongoing demand for skilled labor, and report after report that says we can’t meet that demand.”

In some ways, SB 82 is quite similar to the Illinois model. But SB 82 also offers a wide range of support for people receiving training. This includes assistance with the cost of transportation, lodging, child care, job supplies and equipment, and even housing stabilization services.

“We had suggested this is an opportunity to have an assurance of a pool of dollars that would ebb and flow based on demand,” Kupcak said. “If the state has a lot of capital projects on the books, there is an obvious need and a funding stream to get them in. In a lot of ways the model is simple, but it makes sense.”

Money from the pass-through fee would go into a new State Apprenticeship and Training Supportive Services Fund. From there, money would be disbursed to qualifying pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs.

(Read More)

Oregon House OKs construction worker wage protection

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Contractor would have to pay under some conditions

By: KTVZ.COM news sources
Posted: Feb 26, 2018 01:30 PM PST
Updated: Feb 26, 2018 01:33 PM PST

SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon House on Monday narrowly passed House Bill 4154B, which would provide construction workers with additional wage theft protections, under certain circumstances.

The legislation, championed by Rep. Julie Fahey (D-West Eugene, Junction City, Bethel), would require a general contractor to pay the wages or benefits owed to a worker by a delinquent subcontractor if a specific set of conditions is met, according to a news release from Oregon House Democrats.

“The goal of this bill is to protect wages for workers in the construction industry by adding accountability for general contractors in certain specific situations,” Rep. Faheysaid. “When workers aren’t paid what they have earned, it hurts workers and their families. It also hurts our local economies and reduces tax revenue.”

…

This legislation would create a new process through which the construction workers employed by subcontractors would be able to claim unpaid wages.

(Read More)

Employees of TIF projects in Portland to receive prevailing wage (OR)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

The Portland City Council voted to require contractors working on Tax Increment Financing-funded projects in the city to pay their employees a prevailing wage.

“We will be the first community in the state to put this in their TIF rules,” Mayor Ethan Strimling told the Portland Press Herald.

Prevailing wages are set on an annual basis by the Maine Department of Labor on a county-by-county basis for state construction projects exceeding $50,000.

However, the city council shot down another provision requiring contractors on TIF projects to participate in an apprenticeship program registered by the state or federal government, a move supported by union workers. Instead, the council will explore offering grants for a broader job-training program that would help other industries as well, the newspaper reported.

Also removed was a requirement that at least 25% of work hours be performed by Portland residents, minorities, women or veterans.

(See Article)