Edwin Mayorga helped build one of the highest-profile developments in D.C. in recent years: a sprawling mixed-use complex in the Northwest that brought the District its first Wegmans grocery store, a 690-unit development. building and hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail.
But, Mayorga says, he still hasn’t been fully paid for his work on the project, known as City Ridge. Despite working grueling hours for months, Mayorga says, he was never paid overtime. The sheet metal worker estimates the company that The employer owes him thousands of dollars in unpaid wages for this and other practices.
“We work 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday, and on Saturday we work 10 hours, on Sunday 10 hours, practically,” he said in Spanish, through an interpreter. “We weren’t resting.”
Mayorga, 35, is one of approximately 370 workers who were denied adequate minimum wage, overtime and paid sick leave under the contractor who built City Ridge and its various subcontractors, according to a new lawsuit. The DC Attorney General’s Office alleges against the companies. The lawsuit alleges that the companies systematically misclassified workers as independent contractors instead of employees, violating D.C. labor laws in pursuit of cost savings. The attorney general’s office and local construction workers union officials said contractors in the D.C. construction industry routinely use “labor brokers” — smaller companies that find workers and typically have no greater say in the project) to hire independent contractors so they can reduce costs. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court seeks sanctions against the five companies, as well as restitution and back wages for affected workers.
The lawsuit names Whiting-Turner Contracting Company as the general contractor and alleges that Whiting-Turner relied on a subcontractor called Welch Mechanical Contractors to install major building systems such as mechanical, electrical, drywall and plumbing at City Ridge and other project sites. of construction. Welch used a group of three smaller companies to find workers for his projects, the complaint states.
Between November 2021 and March 2022, the lawsuit alleges, these companies paid at least 27 workers less than the District’s minimum wage, which was then $15.20, and sometimes paid workers as little as $13 or $14. the time, according to demand. The lawsuit also alleges that during the same period, companies failed to pay overtime on more than 240 occasions when workers worked more than 40 hours per week. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that because Welch and his subcontractors incorrectly classified employees as independent contractors, they were also unlawfully denied paid sick leave.
A group of workers also sued Welch separately in 2022, alleging that the company owed them back wages for their work on the City Ridge project; Court documents show that most of the plaintiffs settled with the company last year.
Whiting-Turner and Welch did not immediately return calls for comment.
These problems are not limited to the City Ridge project, the lawsuit states. The attorney general’s office alleges that Welch’s labor subcontractors violate these laws on projects throughout the city.
The lawsuit is one of a series of wage theft lawsuits filed by the district attorney general’s office, which says its worker protection section has obtained more than $10 million in fines and restitution since January 2023.
“It is unacceptable that companies operating in the District of Columbia increase their profits by stealing from workers,” DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement. “Labor brokers and the contractors who employ them not only steal from the workers responsible for building our city, they also demand an unfair competitive advantage over companies that play by the rules.”
Rolando Montoya, an organizer with Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 100, says he heard complaints from workers at the City Ridge site about not being paid, and then worked to connect them with resources to fight for proper compensation. .
Montoya cited a “widespread” pattern among District contractors of misclassifying workers to deny them benefits. Initially, Montoya said, he thought companies were using the practice as a solution to allow them to hire undocumented workers. But, he added, “what I have found now is that many of these (workers) have good documentation, but the companies (still) use this dishonest way of working.”
The effects of the practice, Montoya maintains, ripple throughout the D.C. construction industry and leave contractors who employ union workers at a competitive disadvantage.
“Our contractors, who are responsible, pay for training, pay good salaries and benefits, when they submit bids for these projects, they cannot compete,” says Montoya. “It’s affecting unionized workers, because there is less work.”
After his experience working at City Ridge, Mayorga, for his part, moved away from non-union work and joined SMART Local 100.
“It’s a huge difference,” he said, “mainly because you’re not fighting to get paid.”
A 2019 industry analysis by the attorney general’s office found that construction companies can save between 16 and 40 percent on labor costs when they misclassify workers. The analysis noted that the dynamics of the construction industry, in particular, incentivize this behavior. Jobs are awarded through competitive bidding and companies strive to keep labor costs down. Industries with high injury rates also increase workers’ compensation insurance premiums, which can incentivize companies to misclassify workers as independent contractors and deny them workers’ compensation if they are injured on the job, according to the analysis.
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