(Rhode Island) Senate passes two bills governing unpaid wages

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

3/31/2016

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Senate passed two pieces of legislation Thursday designed to curtail the theft of wages from employees by unscrupulous employers. The measures offer employees improved methods for collecting unpaid wages.

The first piece of legislation passed was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, of District 4, North Providence, Providence. Ruggerio’s bill would establish a procedure for employees to secure liens against employers for unpaid wages and contested claims would be decided by the Superior Court.

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Cambridge Takes Steps to Protect Workers from Wage Theft (MA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

03/18/2016
Richard Rogers and Darlene Lombos

This week, workers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gained new protections for making sure they are paid fairly and on time. On March 14, city manager Richard Rossi signed an executive order establishing certification requirements for vendors bidding on city contracts. The measure seeks to prevent wage theft, which is the improper withholding of payment from employees and the failure to pay employees according to required schedules. Wage theft most often involves employers paying less than the minimum, contracted or prevailing wage, not paying for all hours worked, or not paying overtime for hours exceeding 40 per week. But wage theft can take many forms-employers may never send the final paycheck or may misclassify workers as independent contractors.

“This executive order is a clear indication of Cambridge’s continuing commitment to wage justice,” Rossi said. “The provisions put into effect today provide the city the protections that are needed to ensure that we are dealing with quality contractors. We have created a simple and fair process for both the city and for our contractors.”

Under the executive order, vendors bidding on city contracts will be required to certify their compliance with federal and state wage law with the city, and if the vendors have previous violations, they are required to disclose them and provide a wage bond for the duration of the contract. These measures strengthen the city’s ability to hire vendors that treat their employees fairly.

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School Construction Authority General Contractor Sentenced To 96 Months In Prison For Long-Running Scheme To Deprive Workers Of The Prevailing Wage

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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of New York

Friday, April 1, 2016

Earlier today in Brooklyn federal court, Muzaffar Nadeem, the owner of SM&B Construction Co., Inc. (SM&B), was sentenced to 96 months’ imprisonment, ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution to the IRS, and ordered to forfeit to the government over $7.1 million in criminal proceeds, following his convictions on May 8, 2015, after a four-week jury trial, for mail and wire fraud, structuring financial transactions, federal programs bribery, making illegal cash payments to a union official, money laundering, unlawful monetary transactions over $10,000, subscribing to false tax returns, and multiple related conspiracy charges.

The convictions arose out of Nadeem’s leadership role in a long-running scheme to pay SM&B’s workers a fraction of the prevailing wage on projects funded by the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA), as SM&B was legally and contractually required to do. Nadeem’s co-conspirators Zainul Syed, Afzaal Chaudry and Irfan Muzaffar were also convicted at trial of various crimes for their participation in this scheme. Muzaffar was previously sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, and Chaudry was previously sentenced time served, following approximately ten months of imprisonment. Syed is awaiting sentencing. The sentencing proceedings were held before U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan.

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A.G. Schneiderman and Port Authority Inspector General Nestor Announce Arrest of JFK Contractor Charged With Cheating Construction Workers Out of Benefit Payments

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Arbor Concrete Corp. And Its Principal Kenneth Padover Allegedly Failed To Pay $268,055.78 In Benefits To Workers For A Construction Project At JFK Airport

March 31st 2016

NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Michael Nestor, the Inspector General for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (“Port Authority”), announced the arrest of Kenneth Padover, the owner of Arbor Concrete Corp. Padover and his company face 136 felony counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing and Falsifying Business Records and 3 misdemeanor counts of Failure to Pay Wages. Mr. Padover was arrested early this morning outside of his Dix Hills residence and is expected to be arraigned today at Queens County Criminal Courthouse. A felony complaint was filed today in court. Arbor Concrete Corp. and its principal Kenneth Padover allegedly failed to pay $268,055.78 in benefits to workers for a construction project at JFK Airport.

“My Office will not sit idly by when New York workers are cheated out of their health benefits, vacation pay and potential pension income,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Government contractors who fail to pay the legally required wages or benefits must be held accountable and my office will continue to prosecute employers who do not pay workers everything they are lawfully owed.”

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MnDOT contractor who shorted workers $242K is convicted of theft by swindle

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$242,000 case involved co-owner of firm hired for MnDOT project.

By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
MARCH 8, 2016 – 8:09PM

A co-owner of a Twin Cities electrical contracting company has been convicted of cheating nearly two dozen employees out of a total of $242,000 in wages by paying them far less than the law required for their work on a state highway project in the north metro and elsewhere.

Laura Plzak, 54, of Loretto, was convicted in Hennepin County District Court of 16 felony counts of theft by swindle.

County Attorney Mike Freeman praised the bench verdict issued by Judge Tamara Garcia, calling it “a good decision, based on the enormous amount of evidence gathered by the FBI and the Minnesota Department of Transportation.”

Freeman said Monday that Plzak was “driven by greed, pure and simple, and it was the hardworking electricians who suffered.”

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University of Minnesota unit examines wage theft issues

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By Randy Furst Star Tribune
MARCH 23, 2016 – 6:12PM

A series of articles and videos about “wage theft” appeared last month on a University of Minnesota website, describing how a large number of workers in Minnesota are routinely not paid overtime, shorted in paychecks or not paid at all.

Those practices, which violate state and federal law, are described in detail at workdayminnesota.org, which is sponsored by the Labor Education Service, a unit at the U’s Carlson School of Management.

The subject is also being discussed at Minneapolis City Hall as one of the pillars of Mayor Betsy Hodges’ Working Families Agenda. But it’s unclear so far what role the city may play in cracking down on wage theft.

The Workday articles offer a glimpse into the myriad problems of lower paid workers, often undocumented, who are sometimes reluctant to challenge employers for fear of being fired or even deported.

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With Oil Still In The Doldrums, Wage Theft Claims Have Jumped In Colorado

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By DAN BOYCE & INSIDE ENERGY
FEB 25, 2016

Bankruptcies of oilfield companies large and small have grown as prices remain at their lowest levels in a decade or more. But company insolvencies aren’t the only way a worker can be left underpaid. A growing number of oil workers are turning to the courts, saying they weren’t paid fairly – even when times were good.

In Colorado, there were nine times as many wage suits against oil and gas companies in 2015 as there were in 2010.

With the exception of a couple of weeks in November, 28-year-old oil driller Kody Armajo has been out of work for a year. He’s back at home, living with his parents in Riverton, Wyoming.

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Solutions to wage theft include education, organizing and enforcement (MN)

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By Joey Getty and Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota
February 22, 2016

MINNEAPOLIS – Simply passing more laws will not stop wage theft. This complex problem requires a network of solutions, including greater education on workplace rights, more organizing by workers themselves and improved government enforcement.

Many of the workers, community activists, union representatives and public officials interviewed for this series had suggestions for strengthening a system that is letting too many victims of wage theft fall through the cracks.

Education and awareness
Wage theft is a largely hidden problem.

People “sometimes feel like there’s something wrong, but they don’t know exactly what it is and they don’t know what to call it,” said Ernesto Velez, director of Centro Campesino, which does organizing among farm workers.

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Increasing enforcement at state and local levels in Massachusetts combats wage theft

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By CHRIS LINDAHL
Monday, February 15, 2016

NORTHAMPTON – Efforts are underway on the state and local levels in communities across Massachusetts to combat wage theft, the practice of employers denying workers the pay to which they are legally entitled.

Labor activists say wage theft is an unfortunate practice in workplaces throughout the country. It’s not uncommon for bosses to deny workers earned overtime, sick time or even the minimum wage, they say. The practice is particularly prevalent in the restaurant industry, which employs about 40 percent of all workers making at or below the minimum wage nationwide. It’s also common in the landscaping and construction industries, studies have found.

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Business-labor partnership tackles wage theft on public projects

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By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota
February 22, 2016

ST. PAUL – A joint effort between contractors and building trades unions has led to stronger enforcement of state laws on public construction – making a big dent in cheating and recovering nearly $1 million in stolen wages and benefits.

The partnership could be a model for addressing wage theft in other industries.

The federal government adopted wage standards for taxpayer-funded construction projects in 1931, when President Herbert Hoover signed the Republican-authored Davis-Bacon Act. In the decades since, many states, including Minnesota, and many local communities have followed suit.

Known as “prevailing wage” laws, these regulations require contractors bidding on publicly funded projects to pay wages and benefits in line with those of a particular location. In Minnesota, the state conducts surveys to determine the prevailing wages for different communities.

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