NYC Comptroller Bars Construction Company from Public Work Contracts, Secures nearly $70K in Stolen Wages & Benefits

 

Subcontractor falsified certified payroll reports and claimed to provide wages workers never received

The New York City Comptroller’s Office reached a settlement with Montis Construction, LLC, (Montis), a subcontractor, and its prime contractor BLH Construction, Inc. (BLH), for prevailing wage violations committed by Montis. The settlement relates to carpentry work that was performed under a contract with the New York City Transit Authority (NYCT), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The settlement totals $69,138.05, including an underpayment of $48,193.41, a civil penalty of $9,018.01, and $11,926.63 in interest. The Comptroller’s Office also barred Montis from bidding for City contracts for five years after the subcontractor falsified payroll records.

“Our city’s construction workers work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep New York’s gears turning, yet this case once again shows there are businesses who try to exploit and under-pay their employees. This office will always fight to protect the prevailing wage, and we are glad these workers will finally receive the money they earned,” said Comptroller Brad Lander.

“The findings of our investigation highlight another example of the lengths businesses such as Montis will go to in order to take advantage of workers and shirk their legal obligations. I am pleased to see these workers finally receive the compensation they should have been paid from the beginning,” said Claudia Henriquez, Director of Workers’ Rights at the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law.

The construction work cited took place at the Zerega Bus Depot Central Maintenance Facility in the Bronx where BLH hired Montis as a subcontractor to complete carpentry work. Despite Montis asserting a lack of responsive records, evidence obtained during the investigation conducted by the Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law indicated that the company misrepresented payments to its workers. The Bureau’s investigation uncovered that Montis had falsified certified payroll reports, claiming to pay workers $25.38 per hour while actually only paying them $15 per hour in cash. Additionally, the promised supplemental benefits were not provided to the workers, as Montis claimed.

Because this case involved the falsification of payroll records, Montis is now ineligible to bid on or be awarded any public work contract or subcontract within the state of New York or any municipal corporations or public body within the state for five years. State labor law requires the prime contractor—in this case BLH—to cover its subcontractor’s underpayments. Under the New York Labor Law, the New York City Comptroller sets and enforces prevailing wage laws for public works projects and City-owned properties in the City of New York.

If you have worked on a prevailing wage project and believe your employer has violated the law, you can file a complaint with the Comptroller’s Office here.