Two weeks ago in Houston, infrastructure construction contractor Webber LLC hosted a Crane Operator Rodeo along with the Crane Institute of America, Inc.  The event was one of a handful of regional qualifying competitions for the National Championship Rodeo which will be held on October 27-28 at the Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers site about 45 minutes southwest of Orlando in Davenport, FL.

Each of the crane operators who competed had to maneuver a large climbing crane’s hook through three tasks which were laid out on a course in the yard of the Four Seasons Equipment Rental where the Houston regional was held.  The tasks were titled “Ball in Barrel”, “Slalom”, and “Stand and Move Pipe” and demonstrated various skills needed to perform work with the large crane safely and productively.   Read more » about Crane Rodeo Comes to Houston [Video Interview]

A recent press release from the Florida Department of Financial Services announced multiple arrests in “Operation Dirty Money” conducted by Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force.  Eight people have been charged with workers’ compensation fraud and money laundering.

The Workers’ Compensation Fraud Task Force was formed last summer under the state’s Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Atwater, with the primary goal of investigating workers’ compensation fraud and working with law enforcement to bring the state’s worst offenders to justice.  Over the past year, they have found over $140 million of illegal transactions committed through 12 shell companies and check cashing stores.   Read more » about Check Cashing Workers’ Comp Fraud Scheme Busted in Florida

There’s a major shift in the way the federal government is enforcing labor laws.  The United States Department of Labor isn’t just making sure general contractors follow the law, but those companies have now been put on notice that they’ll be held accountable for the actions of the subcontractors as well.

The Labor Department has announced a settlement with Lettire Construction Corporation and its President and Chief Executive Officer, New York contractor Nicholas Lettire, who are going to have to pay out about $960,000 in back wages and benefits for workers employed by subcontractors.  A lengthy investigation showed that many of those workers were not being paid prevailing wages, overtime they should have received, or benefits.

In a press release from the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, deputy administrator Nancy J. Leppink said:

“The settlement makes absolutely clear that responsibility for complying with the federal prevailing wage laws rests with Lettire Construction and Nicholas Lettire, Read more » about General Contractor Responsible for Labor Law Violations of Subcontractors

An update of the 2010 report on wage theft in the 50 states was released by the Progressive States Network is entitled Where Theft is Legal: Mapping Wage Theft Laws in the 50 States.  It was written by Tim Judson and Cristina Francisco-McGuire under the Progressive States Network with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Public Welfare Foundation.

Building on a series of previous studies that highlighted the current state of wage theft and misclassification throughout the United States, the report asserts that those studies show “states’ wage theft laws are grossly inadequate, contributing to a rising trend in workplace violations that affects millions of people throughout the country.”

The report points out that the enforcement mechanisms, even in states where there are laws, are also inadequate to the scope of the problem and that layoffs in response to economic pressures have crippled the needed enforcement.   Read more » about Wage Theft and Misclassification Report

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency has released two new self-assessment guides for E-Verify Direct Access Users and for E-Verify Web Services Users.  As stated in the documents, the purpose is to provide a checklist and guide for voluntary users of the system to

• Detect E-verify activities inconsistent with the E-verify Program
• Detect non-compliant activities
• Resolve internally detected non-compliant activities quickly and efficiently
• Promote proper E-verify use by their users

   Read more » about Heads Up on E-Verify

The following information was provided by Workers Defense Project (WDP), an Austin-based advocacy group for low-income workers.

This evening a vigil will be held for José Lainez, a construction worker who died while building bridges between Highway 183 and Highway 290 on June 15th 2012.  His family claims the cause of death was heat exhaustion.  The vigil will take place outside of El Shaddai church, located across from the construction site where José worked.  José is survived by his five children, two of which live in Austin: Alex and José Jr.  He was 54 years old.

José Lainez spent the last twelve years as a construction worker in Austin, sending most of his money home to his family in Honduras so that they could repair their home.  According to his family, José was in very good health, but the heat, lack of rest breaks and lack of water at the job site led to his death.  Workers Defense Project has filed numerous complaints against the company for repeated worker safety violations.   Guadalupe Torres knew Don José and worked alongside him at the site where the accident occurred.   Read more » about WDP Holds Vigil for Deceased Construction Worker

We have written about the Obama executive order requiring Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for all Government projects in the US.  Critics have labeled this as payback to the labor unions for getting out the vote for Obama in the 2008 elections.  Those construction companies who are unwilling to comply and hire the unions can’t get government jobs.

In Melbourne, the government of Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has just passed a code of conduct for the construction industry just the opposite of the Obama PLA rules. According to Nigel Hadgkiss, the head of the new Construction Code Compliance Unit, the rules are meant to limit union activities, illegal strikes and work slow downs on Read more » about Australian Construction Rules vs. Obama Construction Rules: Which is on the Right Track?

According to a report released last fall by the Money Service Business Facilitated-Workers’ Compensation Fraud Work Group in the State of Florida, “Workers’ compensation fraud is a serious problem.”  Not just in Florida, but in any state where there are folks working for cash in the underground economy and where there are check cashing services willing to play the insurance premium fraud game.  According to the report,

“This type of fraud is most prevalent in the construction industry where a high percentage of the labor force is transient.  The costs to the system for this type of fraud include unreported payroll taxes, unreported premium taxes, and higher costs to insurance carriers who must process workers’ compensation claims for uninsured workers.  It is estimated that the costs of this type of fraud could cost the state upwards of $1 billion annually, and places tremendous pressure on law-abiding businesses to absorb the costs of premium avoidance.”   Read more » about Insurance Premium Fraud in the Construction Industry: What to Look For

A construction business owner appeared in court last week to face several felony charges which could land him up to 63 years in prison if he is found guilty.  One of the crimes he is charged with committing is reporting less than one quarter of his payroll to his workers’ compensation insurance carrier so that over a 5-year period he failed to pay over $814,000 in premiums owed.

According to the office of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, George Osumi II of Irvine, California reported maintaining a total payroll of just over one million dollars from 2001 to 2006, when his actual payroll was closer to $4.5 million.  In a May 1st press release, the district attorney’s office listed Osumi’s charges:   Read more » about Construction Bandit Arraigned in California

Workers who helped build the new international terminal at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta were finally paid thousands of dollars which they were owed in overtime pay.  In the television report, investigative reporter Richard Belcher of Channel 2 News in Atlanta, Georgia explained that the workers were misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees, and were given a “ten ninety nine” form instead of a W-2 by their employer, Colt’s Drywall Inc.

The injustice came to light when some of the employees informed Jimmy Gibbs, a troubleshooter for the carpenters’ union, that they were not being paid as employees.  Gibbs alerted the US Department of Labor who then discovered that not only were the workers not having taxes withheld from their pay, but they were also working more Read more » about Contractor Pays Wages Owed to Subcontractor’s Employees