LOS ANGELES — Mackone Development Inc., a contractor for the city of Los Angeles, is facing a lawsuit brought by the Los Angeles City Attorney for failure to pay proper hourly wages and overtime pay. The City’s claim for wage and overtime pay law violations alleges more than $250,000 in unpaid wages. In addition to the unpaid wages, the lawsuit alleges the contractor and the subcontractors with which it outsourced intimidated and harassed its employees to prevent them from raising the issue.
The City’s Contractor
From 2010 through 2013, Mackone Development fulfilled a $9.5 million contract to build the South Los Angeles Animal Care Center. During the construction, Mackone used subcontractors King Wire Partitions, Inc., KCC General Construction, Lectrify, Nader Construction, Pak’s Cabinet, Southern California Steel, and their operators. These subcontractors and their operators are also listed as defendants in this lawsuit. Mackone denies the allegations and claims the city agreed that Mackone would not be responsible for the other companies’ violations of the state’s wage laws. Whether the city reached that agreement with Mackone or not, generally contractors are liable for violations committed by their subcontractors based on the theory that the contractors should require their subcontractors to comply with state and federal laws as part of their contracting agreement.
The City’s Claim
According to the City’s claim, during the course of the construction, the contractors and their employees were subject to and violated prevailing wage laws. These violations allegedly denied the employees the proper wages and overtime they were entitled to during the course of the construction. Typically, when a city, state or other government entity contracts for construction services, the employees performing the contracted services are subject to prevailing wage laws; this means they are required to receive more than the federal minimum wage. Prevailing wages vary depending on the industry and even within industries.
For instance, during Mackone’s construction contract the prevailing wage for employees associated with cabinetry was $49 an hour, yet Pak’s Cabinet allegedly paid its employees $8 an hour. Similarly with KCC General Construction, its employees were receiving as little at $5 an hour, while the prevailing wage for those employees’ positions was $45 an hour. In addition to these prevailing wage violations, other subcontractors like Lectrify allegedly not only failed to pay prevailing wages, they failed to pay overtime and did not pay employees for all of the hours they worked. The City is seeking the statutory penalty of up to $2,500 for each violation, as well as, restitution for each of the affected employees.
If you work in a field that is subject to prevailing wage laws and your employer has failed to provide prevailing wages or overtime wages, contact our team of overtime pay lawyers today. Our experienced legal team can be reached at (855) 754-2795 or through our Free Unpaid Overtime Case Review form. If we accept your case, we will represent you under our No Fee Promise. This means there are no legal fees or costs unless you receive a settlement.