A Florida contractor shorted workers $171,000 in pay and health benefits, feds say
The subcontractor on a South Florida Water Management project owed workers $171,998 in cash and benefits after paying some employees only 67% of what they should have been paid, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.
The money went to 11 people electricians employed by Clewiston’s Quality Electric Contracting. That’s an average of $15,636.18 in pay and benefits per person.
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Labor said this was a South Florida Water Management project on the C-43 West Basin Storage Reservoir Pump Station on the Caloosahatchee River in Hendry County. Quality was a subcontractor of Jacksonville’s Harry, Pepper & Associates. Because federal money was involved in the project, the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts rules came into play.
Companies doing work on projects covered by Davis-Bacon “must pay their laborers and mechanics employed under the contract no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits for corresponding work on similar projects in the area.”
Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the 11 electricians, who should have been paid $37 per hour for their work were paid $25 per hour or less. Also, Quality “did not provide the project’s required health and welfare benefits to most of the affected workers.”
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State records say Quality Electric Contracting has been registered to do business in the state since 1985 and is run by President Hugh Turner, Vice President Kenneth Turner and Secretary Karson Turner.
The company hasn’t returned a Miami Herald reporter’s phone calls seeking comment.
“When they bid on federally supported contracts, employers must follow the applicable wage classification rates in the contracts and cannot negotiate and pay lower rates,” Wage and Hour Division District Director Nicolas Ratmiroff said. “Employers who fail to pay workers the required wage rates in the awarded contract can find themselves liable for significant amounts of back wages and, in some cases, debarred from bidding on future contracts.”
To file a complaint
The Wage and Hour complaint section of Labor’s website contains information on how to file a complaint if you believe your employer has violated FLSA or other labor laws. Miami’s Wage and Hour Division office can be reached at 305-598-6607. The national helpline is 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).
