Longtime wage thief Homer Painting has been burned by Attorney General Martha Coakley.  The investigative energy of the AG's Fair Labor Division has never been more obvious than with the settlement forced on the Bouboulis family enterprise.  A total of $352,000 in back pay and penalties, and a debarment of 18 months resulted from violations of prevailing wage, overtime, and payroll records laws on projects across the state.  A total of 35 painters were victimized.  Significantly, crimes were committed during the repainting of 5 schools in the City of Boston last year.  In each of the past two years different companies performing a majority of the Boston schools repaint work have been busted for pocketing Boston taxpayer dollars at the expense of workers.  Last year L&H Construction was hit with almost $200,000 in back pay and fines and was debarred for a year.  It leaves open the question: which group has the worse record: the companies or the school department?  The AG's press release follows.   

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:
March 3, 2009 Harry Pierre
(617) 727-2543
ARLINGTON PAINTING COMPANY AGREES TO PAY OVER $352,000 IN
RESTITUTION AND FINES AND TO AN 18 MONTH DEBARMENT FOR
INTENTIONALLY VIOLATING THE MASSACHUSETTS WAGE AND HOUR LAWS
BOSTON - Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office has reached an agreement with an
Arlington painting company to settle allegations that the company intentionally violated the
Massachusetts Wage and Hour and Prevailing Wage Laws. Homer Contracting, Inc. (Homer
Contracting), and its president, Ekaterini Bouboulis, age 54, will pay over $253,000 in restitution
and $20,000 in fines for failing to pay the prevailing wage. The company will also pay more than
$39,000 in restitution and $10,000 in fines for the overtime violations, a $10,000 fine for failing
to submit true and accurate certified payroll records, a $10,000 fine for failing to maintain true
and accurate general payroll records and a $10,000 fine for failure to provide its employees pay
stubs. As a result of the violations, Bouboulis and Homer Contracting have also agreed to an 18
month debarment, which prevents them from bidding on, contracting with, and working on any
new public works construction projects in the Commonwealth for a period of 18 months.
In July 2008, the Attorney General’s Office received a complaint alleging that Bouboulis
and Homer Contracting were failing to pay the prevailing wage for painting being performed at
five Boston Public School public work projects. As a result of the complaint, investigators from
the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division conducted multiple site inspections and performed an
audit of all of the company’s payroll records. The investigation revealed that Homer Contracting
and Bouboulis had failed to pay 35 employees the prevailing wage and failed to pay 12 of those
workers overtime. Violations were discovered at numerous job sites throughout Massachusetts,
including: Ashby Library; Middleborough Early Childhood Learning Center; Pembroke High
School; Haverhill High School; River Howard in Cambridge; Bedford High School;
Newburyport High School; Bay Village, New Bedford Housing Authority; Gam Modernization
in Milford; Pleasant View in Fall River; Salisbury Town Hall; Ashburnham Town Hall; Kuss
Middle School in Fall River; as well as five schools in the Boston Public School system.
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.
The Attorney General’s Office is responsible for enforcing the laws regulating the
payment of wages laws, overtime and misclassification of employees in the Commonwealth.
Workers who believe they have been misclassified or that their rights have been violated are
strongly urged to call the Attorney General’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465. More
information about the wage and hour laws is also available in multiple languages at the Attorney
General’s Workplace Rights website: www.massworkrights.com.
The matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Miranda Jones and investigated
by Investigator Dan Cullinane, both of Attorney General Coakley’s Fair Labor Division.
######