NEWS RELEASE: BOLI

[Bob Estabrook]

Press Release
For Immediate Distribution
October 13, 2011
CONTACT:      Bob Estabrook, BOLI                503-709-0730    
                        Craig Smith, CCB                      503-934-2185
 
Seven Contractor Judgments for Wage and Hour Violations Referred to CCB
BOLI and the CCB working together to ensure payment of over $240,000 owed to workers, agencies
 
PORTLAND –The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and the Construction Contractors Board (CCB) are teaming up to ensure that outstanding judgments for unpaid employee wages and penalties for wage and hour violations are being paid.  Under the partnership, BOLI will refer construction contractors who do not comply with wage and hour law by failing to pay earned wages to their workers to the CCB, which may suspend the contractor’s CCB license.  Judgments for wages are obtained only after a claim has been fully investigated, wages have been determined to be owed and the employer has had an opportunity to refute the claim, either through the administrative law process or through a court of law.  Of six licensed construction contractors with outstanding unpaid wage and penalty judgments already referred to CCB, four have reached payment schedule settlements, totaling $211,888.50. The remaining two contractors have seen their CCB licenses suspended due to failure to pay unpaid wage and penalty judgments; BOLI has just made its seventh referral.
 
“I’m excited about this partnership,” commented BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian. “These bad business practices hurt both workers who count on their paychecks to put food on the table and also law-abiding contractors who are put at a disadvantage when their competition can ignore wage law and outstanding claim judgments, and continue business as usual.”
 
In recent months, outstanding judgments against Reed Plastering and Stucco, Nu West Contractors and I Will Floor You Flooring were referred to the CCB, and each contractor set up a payment plan to pay off judgments of $7,798.00, $49,150.50, and $4,940.00 respectively. All may continue to operate their businesses so long as their judgments are paid pursuant to the payment plans. Similarly, Larson Construction, which owes $150,000.00 in civil penalties to BOLI, continues to operate while it complies with a payment plan. 
 
Two additional contractors, Creative Carpenters and Venegas Construction, saw their CCB licenses suspended after failing to comply with an administrative law judge’s order to pay wages and penalties. Both were found liable for wages and penalties, owed to their workers, and both refused to pay or arrange a payment schedule.
 
Including the just referred seventh judgment, for $13,000.00 in civil penalties against E.H. Glaab, General Contractor, BOLI and CCB are jointly working to ensure that $241,260.51 in owed wages and penalties is paid as ordered.
 
“It’s important that the bad actors are held accountable for unlawful and unethical behavior,” said CCB director Craig Smith.
 
BOLI’s Wage and Hour Division enforces laws related to wages, working conditions, and public works employment. Following a hearing with a judgment against an employer, the employer may pay wages and penalties in a lump sum or arrange a payment schedule. If the judgment is not paid, BOLI may now refer a construction contractor employer to the CCB, and the CCB may, after an administrative hearing, suspend the license of the employer. 
 
The CCB regulates construction contractors and promotes a competitive business environment through education, contractor licensing, dispute resolution, and law enforcement. The Enforcement Section seeks to provide an effective deterrent to illegal activity in the construction industry by acting on complaints, referrals from law enforcement and regulatory agencies such as BOLI, and information obtained while monitoring the Oregon construction industry. Oregon law requires anyone who works for compensation in any construction activity involving improvements to real property to be licensed with the Oregon Construction Contractors Board.
 
For more about BOLI, visit http://www.oregon.gov/BOLI. For more about the CCB, visit http://www.oregon.gov/CCB.
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