Honolulu Electrical Contractor Owes Workers More than $1.2M in Back Wages
Lighting Services Inc. also submitted false records and attempted to obstruct investigators.
Lighting Services Inc., a federal contractor, will pay 38 electricians/technicians more than $1.2 million in back wages after the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division determined the company did not pay required prevailing wages to workers at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay. According to a news release from the DOL, the division also found the employer submitted falsified payrolls and told workers to provide false information to investigators.
Lighting Services Inc. violated the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and, as a result, the company and owner Scott Wilks are excluded from obtaining federal contracts for three years.
"Businesses that benefit from federal dollars have a responsibility to play by the rules, and that includes paying employees legally required wages," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "Having a federal contract is a privilege, not a right. And we will remain steadfast in our enforcement of laws that level the playing field for those employers who are doing the right thing."
Some of the violations committed by Lighting Services include: instructing employees to misrepresent to investigators the type of work that they did; requiring employees to falsify time records; failing to list numerous workers on certified payroll records; and paying rates more than $20/hour below required wage rates.
The department's regional solicitor in San Francisco brought charges against the contractor, seeking payment of back wages and debarment from federal contracts. The department resolved the charges and obtained appropriate remedies through consent findings approved by an administrative law judge last month.