DOL recovers $1.5M in again wages from contractors on California mission

Take heed to the article
4 min

This audio is auto-generated. Please tell us if in case you have suggestions.

Dive Temporary:

• The U.S. Division of Labor has recovered over $1.5 million in again wages and damages for 413 employees at building tasks at a Ridgecrest, California, naval base, in accordance with a launch. 
• Investigations of 35 contractors on federally funded tasks at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake over two years found employers had violated the Davis-Bacon and Associated Acts; the Contract Work Hours and Security Requirements Act; the Service Contract Act and the Truthful Labor Requirements Act.
• Contractors named within the launch run the gamut from sectors together with safety, recruiting and building. The violators with the most important wage returns have been largely subcontractors on two contracts as a part of an Earthquake Restoration Program led by Burlingame, California-based Environmental Chemical Corp., a design and building firm, although the overall contractor itself was not cited for any violations and didn’t need to pay any again wages.

Dive Perception:

Wage theft and unfair labor practices are a widespread drawback within the building trade. In fiscal 12 months 2023, the DOL recovered over $35.5 million in again wages for building employees throughout 2,134 circumstances, the very best greenback quantity for any trade. 

Of the 35 firms listed throughout a number of industries for violations on tasks at China Lake, the highest construction-related firms ordered to pay essentially the most in again wages have been:

• Greeley, Colorado-based Hensel Phelps, which paid $184,172 in again wages to 37 employees. Hensel Phelps didn’t pay prevailing wage charges, well being and welfare advantages and additional time compensation, in accordance with the discharge.
• ATCO, a Spring, Texas-based prefabricated wooden constructing producer that constructed residing models for building employees, paid $104,935.21 in again wages to seven employees. ATCO didn’t pay prevailing wage charges and additional time wage, in accordance with the discharge.
• Subsequent Century Rebar Inc., a Henderson, Nevada-based fabrication and erection contractor, which paid $59,351.32 in again wages to eight employees. 
• Pacific Metal Group, a San Diego-based rebar fabricator, which paid $41,003.95 in again wages to 11 employees.
• Baker Electrical & Renewables, an Escondido, California-based photo voltaic contractor, paid $39,508.07 in again wages to 31 employees.

Hensel Phelps instructed Building Dive, HR Dive’s sister publication, in an announcement that it values its employees, but it surely found discrepancies between the way in which it paid its union-classified employees on the mission and the general Davis-Bacon Act classifications on the China Lake tasks.

“We’ve ensured that every one workers have been appropriately compensated and the Division of Labor acknowledged Hensel Phelps for his or her transparency and cooperation in correcting the discrepancy,” the assertion learn.

Not one of the different firms responded to Building Dive’s requests for remark. 

Along with the $1.5 million in again wages, the DOL secured $32,291 in liquidated damages, and three of the 35 firms — Pacific Coast Contracting Companies Inc., Temecula Valley Drywall Inc. and Rutt Fence — confronted a collective $14,020 in civil cash penalties as a result of violations.