Social Responsibility

Sophisticated project owners and developers pick premier contractors who are principled, are socially responsible and develop their workforce. They know that contractors who build lasting, high quality employee relationships and career paths for their craftspeople consistently deliver the best value and results. Their practices produce tax revenue and stability to communities while also lowering social service burdens.

Knowledgeable owners and developers avoid using contractors who are are unprincipled and who use misclassified or undocumented workers who are often paid in cash and lack the skills, long-term commitment and support necessary for producing top quality work. They know these second-rate practices not only lead to poor results and hidden costs but also have social consequences in their communities including uncollected taxes, increased social services costs and lower incomes.

What do socially responsible contractors get in return for being responsible?

Do "socially indifferent" or "socially irresponsible" owners, developers and contractors in your community face consequences to their reputation and business?

Last weekend in Tomball, Texas, a group of construction industry volunteers worked on building a new home for Lance Corporal Daniel Peterson, a Marine veteran who lost both legs in the war in Afghanistan.  The construction team, organized by SpawGlass under the auspices of Homes for our Troops, included volunteers from Marek Brothers Systems and Ryder Insulation Incorporated, who all contributed time and materials to help make this home a reality for this 22 year old hero.

Here is the story of the amazing veteran who gave so much for our freedom.

“While on his second deployment, Marine Special Forces, Lance Corporal Daniel Peterson was left a double amputee after an explosion in the Southern Helmand Province of Afghanistan on July 24, 2010. Read more » about Contractors Volunteer to Build New Home for Severely Injured Marine

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Last week Indiana became the 23rd state to become a “right to work” state.  Congratulations to Governor Daniels and the people of Indiana.  Every business should have the right to go to market the way they so choose.  However, I could not help but sympathize a little when I read of some the opponents’ concern of a “downward spiral” as far as it related to the workforce.  After all, we only have to look at the current Texas market in regards to the quality of the commercial workforce: aging, less and less skilled, and more and more piecework.

But it really does not have to be that way.  With the advent of the Construction Career Collaborative (C3), there is now not only a vehicle to Read more » about Sustainable Workforce with Right to Work

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

New Wage Theft and Payroll Fraud Study Released in Florida

According to a recent report in the Florida Independent, wage theft and payroll fraud are rampant in Florida, and the state enforcement mechanism is overwhelmed and grossly understaffed.  They cite a recent report from the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) at Florida International University entitled Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida – How Millions of Dollars are Stolen from Florida's Workforce that illustrates the nature of the wage theft and payroll fraud issue in Florida, specifically in 5 industries: Accommodation and Food Services, Retail, Construction, Healthcare and Social Services and Administrative Support. Read more » about Construction Bandits Rip-Off Workers in Florida

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

First of all I have to tell you that I think that the subcontractors who hire day laborers, work them 12-14 hours a day, and then don’t pay them their base pay or even the overtime that they are due are bandits.  They steal from the workers, they steal taxes from the state, they steal from the IRS, and ultimately they steal from you and me.
I don’t much care for that at all.

On top of that they expose the workers to unsafe jobsite conditions, and they take the chance that the construction is not high quality, so that you and I get exposed to the possibility of injury or worse when we occupy those unsafe buildings and apartments.

In the down economy when jobs are scarce, bids only ring the bell when they are much lower than the Read more » about Who are the Bandits?

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Drywall and plaster contractor BakerTriangle is a company that runs their business with integrity and pays their employees responsibly.  They are one of the companies in the construction industry which plays by the rules, delivering quality work through employees who are treated right.

Johnny Barnes, President of BakerTriangle Dallas, Ltd, proudly states in the following video that for the last 38 years, BakerTriangle has paid payroll taxes, benefits, 401K and profit sharing for everyone they have hired.  Jerry Smith, President of BakerTriangle Austin Ltd, states:   Read more » about One of the Industry “Good Guys” Produces a Video

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

On July 13, Construction Citizen shared a story first reported by Dallas/Fort Worth television station WFAA about misclassification of workers on a school construction project.  Last week, the same WFAA reporter submitted an update to the story.

The original story featured a subcontractor who lost the bid for work on Mansfield Independent School District’s Center for the Performing Arts to a competitor who does not pay payroll taxes, unemployment tax, or workers’ compensation insurance.  Following the investigation and airing of the story, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) charged Mireles, the subcontractor who was hired for the project but did not pay those taxes, for Read more » about Update on Misclassification in Texas Construction

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

According to an article in the Insurance Journal Online, advocacy groups and government organizations in Florida are bombarding lawmakers with suggestions for litigation which could curtail a rampant practice by disreputable contractors to defraud the state of workers’ compensation premiums.  This occurs when individuals set up fake subcontracting companies with workers’ compensation certificates and use those fake company names to get paid with checks payable to the non-existent companies.  They then cash the checks at check cashing stores, and pay the actual workers “off the books” with the cash.  The scheme has effectively become the status quo for doing business in some areas, and is estimated to cost the state of Florida millions of dollars in unpaid Read more » about Payroll Information Provided to Reduce Workers’ Comp Fraud in Florida

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed two new bills into law that will address the misclassification and wage theft issues in a much stronger fashion.  According to an Advisory received by Construction Citizen and issued by the law firm of Epstein, Becker, Green, the two bills are:

“SB 459 directly impacts employers that classify workers as independent contractors.”  This bill imposes steep civil penalties ranging from $5,000 – $25,000 per incident with the upper levels reserved for those firms that exhibit a pattern of violations.  Additionally the penalties include the posting on the company’s website of a statement saying that they have been found guilty of a “serious violation of the law”.  Read more » about California Attacks Misclassification and Wage Theft with New Laws

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Pages