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Subcontractor Hit with $500,000 Lawsuit for California Labor Law Violations

Los Angeles, CA California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a California labor law lawsuit last week against a Nevada-based contractor employing a number of drywall installers in the Golden State. Brown is seeking $500,000 in restitution for workers cheated out of pay and other benefits.

MDP California stands accused of violating no fewer than seven California employee labor law statutes. "MDP California cheated its workers and the State out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by dodging fair wage and labor laws," Brown said in a press release from States News Service. "Those kinds of business practices will not be tolerated in California."

An investigation launched last year by the Office of the Attorney General found literally hundreds of violations. Brown's office interviewed a number of workers, who reported that MDP California regularly required them to work anywhere from nine to 11 hours a day Monday through Saturday??"and sometimes on Sunday. There was no overtime pay provided for the additional hours.

One worker who was injured on the job had no choice but to take unpaid leave due to the alleged failure of MDP California to provide workers' compensation.

The lawsuit contends MDP California violated the following California state labor laws:

- California Labor Code section 510 by denying overtime pay.
- California Labor Code section 226 by providing wages to employees in other employees' names.
- California Wage Order 16-2001(4)(A) denying pay for all hours worked.
- California Labor Code section 226.7 by denying employees with a 10-minute break each four hours.
- California Labor Code section 3700 by failing to pay worker's compensation insurance.
- California Labor Code section 201 by failing to pay wages owed to laid-off employees immediately.
- California Business and Professions Code section 17200 for engaging in unfair business practices.

The Office of the Attorney General alleged that MDP California's failure to pay fair wages or state taxes gave the employer an unfair advantage over its competitors, which allowed it to underbid for jobs.

April 20, 2010

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California Labor Law: Contractors Who Don't Play By the Rules

Los Angeles, CA So you're a construction worker in California. And you've been following the news reports about the construction crane accidents in Manhattan, and even though you're not working on, or anywhere near a crane you wonder if everything is on the up-and-up with your employer. Well you have California Labor Law on your side.

You would be happy to know that there are various California labor laws and statutes that protect you from an abusive employer. You should also be happy to know that the Labor Standards Enforcement arm of the Labor Commissioner's Office keeps a close eye on things.

Witness a recent sweep involving 120 companies in all five counties over two days last month. Officials conducted random inspections May 14 and 15, and at the end of the two-day blitz issued 54 citations and levied more than $279,500 in fines against construction firms in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

One of those companies may be an employer you work for, or may have at one time. You'll want to pay attention here, to what some of those citations were, given the realization that construction is an exact science requiring skill and expertise. It is also, at times, extremely dangerous. Workers have been injured, and killed.

So what were the citations?

Failure to provide itemized deduction statements to employees: This is an assault on your wallet. Without itemized deduction statements, you have no idea what items are deducted from your pay, and what they represent. What's to prevent an unscrupulous contractor from telling you one figure, paying out another and pocketing the rest?

Failure to provide workers' compensation insurance: The contractor might be saving himself some hassles, and some money, but what does this mean to you? What if you were injured on the job? There are all kinds of site risks and hazards inherent with the work, even with low-rise construction projects. You could step on a nail, or get beaned in the head. You could twist your back. Little did you know that your employer, the seemingly nice fellow who brings the coffee in the morning, has not bothered to provide workers' compensation insurance.

Failure to obtain a California contractor's license: This is a no-brainer. If you're a contractor, you must be licensed. Period. Sure, there is a cost for this??"but just imagine the potential costs, and the fallout that's possible without one? If a contractor isn't licensed, what impact does that have on the job at hand? The site? The ability to collect compensation, if you are injured on the job while working with, or for an unlicensed contractor?

"The construction industry, like all others in California, must purchase workers' compensation insurance and properly pay their employees," says California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet. "Contractors are also required to be licensed, and those who operate outside the law have an unfair advantage over their competitors. It's our job to protect workers and level the playing field for those in the construction industry who do follow the law."

You don't have to have a construction crane fall on top of you at a major construction site, to be injured on the job. There is a myriad of hazards at every site??"and you need to protect yourself from an unscrupulous contractor who fails to play by the rules.

Especially if your life, and livelihood could be at stake.