The Connecticut Department of Labor has arrested the owner of Mota Brothers Asbestos, LLC located in Hartford for allegedly failing to pay more than $469,000 in owed wages to 65 workers employed at the company between June 2011 and January 2013. According to a statement by the department, there were also 95 instances when checks could not be cashed, 170 when checks were not issued for work performed, and over 100 falsified certified payrolls on government-funded prevailing wage projects.
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Get Your Report Now!According to State Labor Commissioner Sharon M. Palmer, the agency’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division (WWSD) issued an arrest warrant for the owner after investigators validated complaints that $469.089.79 in wages were owed to workers, and that the owner falsified 104 certified payrolls for work performed between November 2011 and September 2012 on ten prevailing wage construction projects at schools and educational academies.
“Our wage investigators gave the employer numerous opportunities to pay his employees for the hours they had worked, overtime wages and the required rate of pay for the prevailing wage construction projects,” Palmer noted. “[The owner] admitted he falsified certified payrolls on 10 prevailing wage construction projects, which is considered a Class D felony.”
Under Connecticut law, those facing a Class D felony may be fined up to $5,000, imprisoned up to five years, or both. Non-payment of wages is also a Class D felony with penalties involving fines and imprisonment. Upon completion of the investigation, the owner was cited on 281 different counts:
“Our primary goal is always to recover owed wages for employees who deserve to be paid for the hours they worked,” said WWSD Director Gary K. Pechie. “Following repeated attempts to secure payments for the workers, and upon determining that more than 100 payrolls had been falsified, we had no option but to issue an arrest warrant. When employers don’t play by the rules they cheat their employees and Connecticut taxpayers, and they make it almost impossible for honest employers to bid on and compete for viable projects.”