Glendale, California, located in Los Angeles County and home of baseball’s Doger Stadium, is also the home of Calcrete Construction, Inc. – a company that has been charged with a $6.3M Misclassification and Wage Theft Lawsuit by the State of California’s Labor Commissioner’s Office. From their August 14 press release:
“The Labor Commissioner’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Calcrete Construction, Inc. seeking $6,300,338 for multiple wage theft violations affecting a group of 249 construction workers and the willful misclassification of 175 workers as independent contractors. …
“Beginning in August 2016, Calcrete forced its workers under threat of termination to sign contracts stating they were independent contractors. The company then used staffing agencies Dominion Staffing and Southeast Personnel Leasing to pay the workers.
“’It is illegal for employers to use subcontractors to distance themselves from the obligation to pay workers, and we will use every tool to dissuade employers from this scheme,’ said Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su. ‘This lawsuit aims to recover the money these misclassified workers should have been paid after years of wage theft.’ …
“Worker misclassification results in an estimated loss of $7 billion each year in payroll tax revenue to the state.”
The lawsuit seeks damages payable to workers for several infractions including $352,000 in overtime wages. It also seeks statuary penalties payable to the State of California such as $2,625,000 for willful misclassification.
For more information, read the press release in its entirety.
The Labor Commissioner’s Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), is part of the California Department of Industrial Relations. Their mission is to ensure a just day's pay in every workplace in the State and to promote economic justice through robust enforcement of labor laws. The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) is charged with protecting and improving the health, safety, and economic well-being of over 18 million wage earners and helping their employers comply with state labor laws. DIR is housed within the Labor & Workforce Development Agency.
