Contractors Fined $748,366 Over California Labor Law Violations
“Failure to pay the proper prevailing wage is a form of wage theft,” said Labor Commissioner Su, in a statement.
Legal Monitor Worldwide (6/7/13) reported the California and labor law citations stemmed from work performed on four public works projects undertaken by the prime contractors and their subcontractors.
According to the report, Cyrcon Builders was hired to perform work on Gateways Hospital and Mental Health Center in Los Angeles. Cyrcon, in turn, subcontracted carpentry and masonry work to KAY General Services, d/b/a Rudy’s Construction. The latter was found by investigators to be in violation of California labor employment law due to wage violations, and Rudy’s was assessed $98,187 for unpaid wages, $24,075 in penalties and $2,307 in apprenticeship training funds.
In another example of a violation to California prevailing wage law, a subcontractor hired by Tutor Perini Corp. was cited for various violations in association with work performed on a newly built branch of the Orange County Public Library in Laguna Niguel. The subcontractor, Cal Framing, failed to pay prevailing wage and overtime to 25 workers and was assessed $117,837 in unpaid wages, $30,800 in penalties and $539 in contributions to a Department of Industrial Relations-approved training program for the California Apprenticeship Council.
Yet another contractor, Tidwell Concrete Construction, found itself facing the wrath of the California Labor Commissioner over work performed at the Miramar Library Learning Resource Center. Tidwell, originally hired for the new build by the San Diego Community College District, was found following an investigation to have violated California employee labor law through the failure to pay 16 workers the correct California prevailing wage, together with failure to make CAC training fund contributions. Tidwell was also found not to have hired the correct number of apprentices as required.
Tidwell was assessed $152,079 in unpaid wages, $100,950 in penalties, $7,926 in unpaid training fund contributions and $16,000 in apprenticeship fines, according to the report.
“We will crack down on not only the subcontractors who steal workers’ wages and fail to pay apprenticeship training contributions,” said Labor Commissioner Su, in a statement, “but also on the general contractors so we put proper incentives on them to deal only with honest, law-abiding businesses in California.”
According to various reports, one of the mandates behind the aggressive pursuit of wrongdoing by investigators with the Office of the California Labor Commissioner is to ensure honest businesses get a fair shake in the market, and don’t suffer loss of potential contracts to other bidders able to low-ball on a contract by not paying their workers, and committing other violations to California state labor laws. Also cited were Intermountain Electric of Denver and Campbell Certified Inc. of Oceanside.
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