Baystate Painting Company of Danvers, MA has been fined and debarred for 5 years as a result of an investigation conducted by Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. The official pres release describing the case follows. The case saw the AG's office employ a powerful weapon against wage cheaters: the company's own payroll books. Comparing public certified payrolls, often falsified, with a company's internal payroll records, brings out the truth in a way nothing else will. Hats off to AG Coakley!
THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
ONE ASHBURTON PLACE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02108
(617) 727-2200
(617) 727-4765 TTY
www.mass.gov/ago
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT:
April 8, 2008 Harry Pierre
(617) 727-2543
DANVERS PAINTING COMPANY TO PAY OVER $ 33,000 IN FINES AND RESTITUTION FOR VIOLATING THE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR AND PREVAILING WAGE LAWS
BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has reached an agreement with the owner of a Danvers painting company to settle allegations that she misclassified her employees as independent contractors, and failed to pay the prevailing wage for all hours worked at various job sites. Josephine Christopoulos, age 44, of Danvers, owner of Baystate Painting Company (Baystate), admitted to violating the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law and the Prevailing Wage Laws. Christopoulos and her company agreed to pay $19,970.67 in restitution to four employees and over $13,000 in fines for the violations. In addition, Christopoulos and Baystate voluntarily agreed to a five year debarment period during which they are prohibited from bidding on, or contracting for, public works jobs.
The Attorney General’s Office began an investigation in January of this year, after a complaint had been filed with the Office. The complaint alleged that employees performing painting work at the Gloucester Housing Authority project in Gloucester were not receiving the prevailing wage. During the course of the investigation, authorities obtained copies of Baystate’s general payroll records and certified payroll records for various painting projects completed in the state. An audit performed on Baystate’s records revealed the company had listed four employees on the certified payroll records as earning the prevailing wage. However investigators discovered the employees’ names did not appear on Baystate’s general payroll records. Authorities determined that Baystate had failed to pay these employees the prevailing wage from June 2006 through January 2008 at different job sites. The company also illegally classified the four employees as independent contractors rather than Baystate’s own employees, despite the fact that none of the employees had their own business. The employees also did not work for anyone else, but rather worked exclusively for Baystate, used tools and materials supplied by Baystate, and were under direct supervision by Baystate.
The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law provides that an individual performing any service shall be considered to be an employee unless: (1) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his or her contract for the performance of service and in fact; and (2) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and, (3) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.
The Prevailing Wage and Records Keeping Laws apply to all construction work performed on public works projects in Massachusetts. The Prevailing Wage Laws allow all contractors bidding on public works projects to enjoy a “level playing field” by standardizing the rate of pay the workers will earn. The Records Keeping Laws allow state agencies to monitor the spending of taxpayer monies on public construction projects.
Workers who believe they may have been misclassified or not paid the appropriate wages are strongly urged to call the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465.
The matter was settled by Assistant Attorney General Miranda Jones, with assistance from Inspector James Kelley, both of Attorney General Coakley’s Fair Labor Division.
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