unnamed

Valley Stream contractor gets 30 days for wage theft (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Posted June 11, 2019
LIHERALD.COM

Valley Stream contractor Vickram Mangru and his wife Gayatri of AVM Construction Corp. were sentenced on June 10 for their roles in failing to pay more than $280,000 in wages to laborers working on a publicly funded construction project in New York City, according to a news release from the New York attorney general.

Vickram was ordered to serve 30 days in jail, followed by three years of probation by Bronx County Supreme Court Justice James McCarty for a felony charge of failure to pay prevailing wages and benefits. Gayatari was sentenced to a conditional discharge as result of misdemeanor conviction on the same charge.

Both had pleaded guilty on Feb. 11, and have paid $80,000 in restitution to three workers. The couple still owes a remaining $202,000, and are barred from bidding on or being awarded a public works contract in New York for five years.

“New Yorkers who work on publicly-funded projects deserve to be paid a prevailing wage,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Employers who underpay their employees, and attempt to evade wage laws have no business in the state of New York. My office will continue to ensure that all New Yorkers – no matter their trade – are paid a fair wage.”

Between December 2012 and February 2015, Vickram, owner of Vick Construction and operator of AVM Construction Corp. had reportedly failed to pay several of his employees prevailing wages, as required by state law, for construction projects and repair work at a number of public schools in the Bronx.

Vickram had reportedly paid his workers $120 and $160 a day for 40 to 50-hour work weeks, which falls far below the prevailing wage schedules set for publicly funded projects of that nature, the release read. To hide the underpayments, he falsified certified payroll records and reports submitted to the New York City Department of Education to make it look as if he were following the required prevailing wage schedules.

The city comptroller had initially barred the couple from being awarded public contracts after discovering the under payments, but referred the case to state prosecutors when it was found that they had created a new company in an attempt to continue operating in the city.

State prosecutors picked up the case after the city comptroller had barred the couple from being awarded public contracts, and then found that they had created another company to continue doing business, and was allegedly still committing labor violations.

(See Article)

3d_money_construction_dreamstime_xxl_21903206

Games Contractors and Subs Play – Thinking about Playing the Wage Theft Game? Think Again

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

by Jim Kollaer | May 23, 2019

We have posted in the past about the Wage Theft Game and how rampant it is in construction around the globe. Globally, this game is played through the use of forced labor, conscripted labor, labor trafficking and a variety of other less than honest methods. Government officials in some second and third tier countries around the globe take bribes, kick-backs, endorse nepotism, make deals with the cartels and generally use a variety of illegal and underhanded methods to get projects built. Those projects range in size from major infrastructure projects such as bridges, dams, highways to palaces, second homes, schools and individual homes.

So, it is no wonder that many Contractors and Subs have either borrowed or brought with them the methods of the Wage Theft Game to the construction industry in the United States. Owners and investors may or may not know that these games are being played on their projects and we thought that we would reiterate some of the ways that Wage Theft games are being played on projects in your local market so that you would recognize it when you see it being played.

There are generally four variants of the Wage Theft Game that we see in our markets and that are defined in a recent article in Construction Dive. Those include non-payment, underpayment, misclassification and unauthorized deductions. Let’s take a quick look at each of them to see what they look like.

Non-payment – This one is relatively straightforward. Workers or subs do the work and the contractor or owner refuses to pay for that work. In today’s marketplace where we are seeing tight labor markets, contractors and subs are getting away with it as the result of the wider use of illegal workers – workers who have no recourse when a sub or contractor withholds paychecks and tells the illegal workers that if they complain that the Contractor will call ICE on them and their families and see that they are sent back to their home countries.

Underpayment – Many contractors and subs underpay their workers by using the “sub-sub” method where the prime sub gets a project for a specific bid or negotiated price and then subs the work to another work crew for a lower price and tells that crew that, ” I only have X dollars in this job and you can have it if you take it for that price.” The crew and the craft workers get shorted either by hourly rates or by flat rates for the project while the prime makes profit on the spread.

(Read More)

unnamed

Westchester County Wage Theft Trial Makes History (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Teresa Santiago and Alice Kenny
Posted on May 15, 2019

First Case to Appear in Federal Court Wins Maximum Amount

In a history-making event, justice finally came to three day laborers whose wages had been stolen by their employer, thanks to significant intervention by Catholic Charities NY. A jury determined last Thursday, May 9, 2019, that TDL Restoration Inc. and its relating contractor company, TDL Management Corp., stiffed three of its employees for thousands of hours worked. The contractor did not pay the men regular wages nor overtime and when it issued paychecks they often bounced. Not only did the jury find in favor of the plaintiffs, … on all questions, but they are expected to be awarded the maximum damages permissible, close to $300,000, for violations of Federal and State labor laws.

…

Unfortunately, these three day laborers’ plight is not unusual

Unscrupulous contractors often stiff this group of men they consider not only vulnerable but powerless. Day laborers, typically immigrants, wait on corners under scorching sun and bitter cold hoping a contractor will offer them a job.

When left unpaid, they often feel powerless because of poverty and often lacking of legal status, to fight back.

Not this time

A team of organizations including Catholic Charities NY stood up to win this impressive victory for these otherwise defenseless men. Organizations included the Workers Justice legal team as well as National Day Laborer Organizing Network organizations. Counted among these organizations are Catholic Charities Obreros Unidos of Yonkers, Community Resource Center, United Community Center, Don Bosco Workers and Neighbors Link.

…

“Wage theft by TDL Restoration not only hurts the individual workers who should have been paid more under federal and state law,” said Catholic Charites Community Services Westchester Regional Director Esmeralda Hoscoy, “but also the businesses of law-abiding contractors whose bids on contracts are hired to reflect their higher labor cost.

(Read More)

unnamed

Colorado passes law making wage theft a felony (CO)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Author – Kim Slowey
Updated – May 17, 2019

UPDATE: May 17, 2019: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on May 16, signed The Human Right to Work With Dignity Act (HB-1267) into law, reclassifying intentional nonpayment of more than $2,000 of wages a felony theft.

“Unscrupulous employers who purposefully withhold wages or underpay workers hurt the economy by undercutting good employers’ bids, engaging in tax fraud and denying workers fair compensation,” said one of the Act’s sponsors, Rep. Meg Froelich.

The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Dive Brief:

  • The Colorado General Assembly’s House Judiciary Committee approved a proposed wage theft bill that would make intentional underpayment of certain wages a criminal offense.
  • In Colorado it is a misdemeanor to willfully short employees on their paychecks, but the new measure would make it a felony theft to intentionally underpay them by $2,000 or more. The bill includes migratory and foreign workers under the definition of employee.
  • One of the bill’s stated intentions is to provide an additional vehicle for state law enforcement to fight labor trafficking by recognizing labor as a thing of value that is subject to theft. According to the General Assembly, labor trafficking each year costs Colorado workers hundreds of millions of dollars and the loss of tens of millions of dollars to the state.

Dive Insight:

According to the Colorado Fiscal Institute, more than 500,0000 workers in the state – many of them in the construction industry – lose $750 million a year because of wage theft. The institute’s analysis shows that the most common methods employers use to short employees on their pay are:

  • Nonpayment, which includes late payments and not paying employees what they’ve earned.
  • Underpayment.
  • Misclassification of employees as independent contractors in order to avoid having to pay benefits.
  • Unauthorized payroll deductions for expenses like transportation, materials and tools.

There has been a push by some states and cities to address wage theft and misclassification of workers as independent contractors. In California, lawmakers are considering codifying a state Supreme Court ruling that sets the parameters of which workers qualify as independent contractors. The “ABC” test asks whether the person claiming to be an independent contractor is free from the control and direction of the employer; performs work that the hiring employer doesn’t typically do; and engages in the work as part of a business.

(Read More)

unnamed

Texas bill would create public database of wage thieves (TX)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Written by Ryan Johnston
MAY 3, 2019 | STATESCOOP

Under a new bill making its way through the Texas legislature, the state would create a publicly searchable database of companies and employers that commit wage theft – a serious problem in a state that only sees 50 percent of offenders pay back stolen wages.

The bill, introduced last November by Democratic state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, would require the state’s workforce commission to maintain the database of offenders. Wage theft can take different forms, such as employers skimping on overtime for hourly workers or paying below minimum wage, which has been $7.25 per hour in Texas since 2009.

The database that would be created under Gonzalez’s bill would publish the names of each manager, owner and business that purposely withheld wages from employees and never paid them back. Though the bill doesn’t punish offenders monetarily, it would give workers, activists and politicians the ability to identify consistent violators. Right now, that information is only available through a public records request, something potential employees are unlikely to make of their future employer, particularly if they’re undocumented.

But the bill would give offending employers time to pay owed wages before they are added to the database. Companies that are ordered by the state’s labor commission to pay back wages have 30 days to do so; if they don’t comply, the state has 180 days to notify them they’re going to be added to the database, during which they can dispute the offense. Once an employer is added to the database, though, the identifying information would be searchable for three years or until they’re convicted of having committed wage theft.

(Read More)

unnamed

Opinion: Criminalizing wage theft is only one step in the right direction (CO)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

APR 29, 2019 4:05AM MDT
Rebecca Galemba

A day worked is a day paid,” a day laborer in Lakewood, Colorado stated. But according to the Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI), this is not the case for many Colorado workers. Each year, half a million Coloradans suffer from wage theft, amounting to $750 million a year, in addition to the associated $25 million to $47 million in lost state tax revenue and potential public services.

Wage theft refers to the denial of earned wages and benefits protected under state and federal labor laws. The CFI numbers are likely vast under-estimates due to underreporting and pervasive worker misclassification.

New legislation, like Colorado House Bill 1267, would recognize wage theft for the insidious, and often intentional, crime it is. This legislation would treat wage theft as “theft” so that the intentional withholding of wages over $2,000 would be considered a felony.

When employers get away with cheating their workers, it not only harms Colorado’s most vulnerable people, but also undermines wages and working conditions for all workers and creates unfair business advantages for unscrupulous employers. When penalties are low or not applied, committing wage theft is relatively low-risk, profitable, and normal.

Recognizing the crime of wage theft is a step forward in mitigating this unfair business practice. House Bill 1267 can pave the way for more proactive policies to target routine violators, ramp up public enforcement, enhance retaliation protections, monitor industries with pervasive violations and create partnerships to assist workers who may lack the ability to come forward in a claims-driven enforcement environment.

In Colorado, the construction sector accounts for the largest share of violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act; it is estimated that a third of workers in construction may be misclassified, leading employers to avoid obligations to their workers as well as payroll taxes. In my research survey of over 400 day laborers, we found that 62% of workers surveyed had experienced wage theft, but that only half ever pursued their unpaid wages.

Fewer than 40% asked for assistance even though an amendment to the Colorado Wage Claims Act, which went into effect in 2015, authorized the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Labor Standards and Statistics to adjudicate wage claims and levy fines and penalties to deter bad behavior regardless of a worker’s legal status.

(Read More)

Wage-theft bill sparks debate about repeat offenders (IL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Rebecca Anzel, Capitol News Illinois
Posted Apr 19, 2019 at 11:38 AM

Legislation that punishes employers in Illinois who short their workers’ pay left Republican representatives with open-ended questions about the bill’s impact on state businesses.

Proposed by Chicago Democratic Rep. Celina Villanueva, the House-approved measure enhances current penalties against companies convicted of wage theft – each day an employee’s paycheck is withheld would now be a separate felony offense instead of a misdemeanor.

Businesses would also be barred from working with the state of Illinois for five years.

“This proposal will help working families by ensuring that any business that is willfully withholding wages is held accountable,” Villanueva said.

But during floor debate, Republican representatives questioned whether Villanueva’s characterization of the bill accurately portrayed the practical effects it would have if passed into law.

Villanueva consistently said her bill targets “bad actors” who “repeatedly and willfully engage in wage theft.”

(Read More)

unnamed

Union-backed budget amendment would combat construction wage theft in Massachusetts (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Shira Schoenberg
Posted Apr 24, 4:55 PM

A union-backed amendment expected to be included in the Massachusetts House budget would increase the attorney general’s ability to enforce wage and hour laws in the construction industry.

Rep. Dan Cullinane, D-Boston, introduced an amendment that would spend $500,000 to create a specialized unit in the attorney general’s office to investigate and enforce wage violations in the construction industry.

“This underground economy is real,” Cullinane said. “Bad companies are stealing wages from workers, bad companies are pocketing taxpayer dollars by falsifying payroll records.”

Historically, the construction industry has had frequent occurrences of wage theft.

Attorney General Maura Healey, in a February report, said her office issued 165 civil citations against 66 construction companies in 2018 for wage violations. These companies paid fines of more than $1.23 million and restitution of $1.47 million for 1,030 employees.

Wage theft can include things like failing to pay overtime, failing to pay the required wage for public projects or not accurately documenting how many hours someone works.

(Read More)

McGarvey of North American Building Trades Unions addresses MBTC convention (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

April 19, 2019 – Construction Design & Engineering

Plymouth, MA The Massachusetts Building Trades Council (MBTC) unveiled its 2019 agenda to elevate the interests of construction workers and union contractors across the Commonwealth. The three-day convention was held at HOTEL 1620.

Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTC), served as keynote. McGarvey represents millions of workers from 14 national and international unions in the U.S. and Canada. He addressed hundreds of local labor leaders and delegates who made the trip to the town for the convention. The delegates at the convention came from 74 member locals, who together represent 75,000 men and women from across the Commonwealth.

The 2019 agenda discussion included policies around Apprenticeship & Training, providing career paths for more women & people of color, workplace safety, building more affordable housing, state and federal legislative priorities, and veteran employment.

Cracking down on the state’s wage theft epidemic remained a top concern, with MassBTC president Frank Callahan calling on the state legislature to provide additional funding for investigators within the Attorney General’s office. “Funds spent on wage enforcement more than pay for themselves in the form of taxes from recovered wages, and fines and penalties paid by the violators,” said Callahan. “Expanding wage enforcement personnel isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s an economically wise investment for taxpayers too.

(Read More)

(Op-ED) Keith Ellison: Time to Address Wage Theft is Now (MN)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Keith Ellison, Union Advocate
April 29, 2019

Frankly, I was shocked.

Here I was, listening to a man through an interpreter describe how the paycheck that he worked so hard for at fairly low wages was delivered to him in a debit card. He didn’t get a regular paycheck or a check stub of any kind: he was told that this debit card represented his pay and that the pay had been deposited for him.

It was hard for him to figure out how much he had actually gotten paid. When he did, he found that he had lost as many as three days’ wages even though he had worked hard every single day.

…

These folks are all victims of wage theft. Wage theft takes many forms: having hours shaved off your paycheck; being forced to work off the clock; not getting paid for overtime; being paid at a lower rate than promised, sometimes below minimum wage; being paid in cash or other forms, with no Social Security, unemployment, or worker’s comp withheld; being misclassified as an independent contractor; and more.

…

I was also shocked at the frequency with which wage theft happens. Reputable studies from several years ago estimate that two-thirds of all low-wage workers in the country have experienced at least one form of wage theft. The amount of wages stolen each year in Minnesota may be in the hundreds of millions of dollars: nationally, the Economic Policy Institute has estimated that $50 billion a year is stolen in wage theft. That’s more than three times the value of all the goods stolen through robbery, burglary, larceny and auto theft combined.

Those estimates are 5-10 years old now. In an economy that’s gotten more and more predatory, it’s surely only gotten worse.

One reason people don’t know wage theft happens is because employers often retaliate or threaten to retaliate against people who report it. Another reason is that wage theft commonly happens in the shadows, to the most vulnerable among us, especially immigrants, people of color, and young people. African American workers are three times more likely to have had their wages stolen than white workers, and Latina/o workers are four times more likely. The predators who steal from these folks do so because they figure they’re the least likely to report it.

Too often, wage theft is connected to criminal abuse. According to human-rights advocates, every case of human trafficking also involves wage theft. If you find people being trafficked, you’ll find people whose wages are being stolen. That’s happening right here: in Hennepin County, a contractor has been charged with human trafficking, insurance fraud, and undocumented wage theft. The charges claim that “he knew the men that he had employed were undocumented workers and used that knowledge as leverage to force them to work long hours for less than market pay and without adequate safety protection,” and that “when workers were injured, he told his employees that they would lose their jobs and be deported if they sought medical attention.”

…

– Keith Ellison has been serving as Minnesota’s Attorney General since January 7, 2019. As the People’s Lawyer, his job is to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity and respect. Before becoming Attorney General, he represented Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years.

(Read More)