Construction firms fined $2.4M for OT violations
Wikimedia Commons
A Lunenburg construction company and a Framingham company have been ordered to pay $2,359,685 in back wages and damages to 478 employees for misclassifying the bulk of their employees as independent contractors to avoid paying them overtime wages and other benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that Force Corp., AB Construction Group Inc. and employers Juliano Fernandes and Anderson Dos Santos had misclassified those employees as well as using a combination of payroll checks and cash and check payments to pay their employees straight time when overtime pay was required. They kept inadequate and inaccurate time and payroll records, according to a release from the department.
Force Corp. is a year-round construction company operating in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. According to the department, the investigation found that the defendants created AB Construction to provide Force Corp. with much of its labor, and that Force Corp. prepared and controlled the payroll and payment procedures for both companies.
The department has obtained a consent judgment that orders the defendants to pay those employees as well as $262,900 in civil money penalties due to the willful nature of their violations. The order also requires the companies to take steps to ensure that the company’s wage and record keeping practice is in line with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor has put a focus recently on misclassification, entering into agreements with more than 30 states to share information and to coordinate enforcement efforts.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments