PHOENIX, Ariz. (March 25, 2024) – After a months-long investigation, the US Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division has recovered $607,395 for 227 people working on the Valley Metro Light Rail project in the City of Phoenix. Torres Consulting and Law Group Wage Compliance Division (TCLG) flagged the wage violations for Valley Metro while performing Davis Bacon prevailing wage compliance. Working together with onsite job interviews and weekly certified payrolls, TCLG and Valley Metro notified the DOL when certain contractors refused to comply with appropriate classifications and wage packages.
A common wage scheme is to underpay workers by misclassifying them as doing work in a different trade that pays less hourly or to misclassify them as 1099 independent contractors altogether. By law, contractors must pay the wage per the type of trade being worked. Electricians should be paid electrician wages, ironworkers paid ironworker wages, etc.
“Employees deserve to be paid what the law requires in that trade. Improper wage deductions and misclassifications to improperly reduce a worker’s wages is unfortunately a common occurrence on construction job sites. Employees are too often told to work more than 40 hours per week, but only report 40 hours on their time sheets,” said TCLG Compliance Division Director Laura Garcia.
TCLG works with clients nationwide on prevailing wage compliance. In the last 10 years, the division has brought complaints to the DOL directly, as well as protected owners from liability from contractors not playing by the rules.
TCLG’s compliance portfolio has surpassed $2 Billion in 2024.